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Franklin's  Contribution 
to  Medicine 


Franklin's  Contribution 
to  Medicine 

Being  a  Collection  of  Letters 
Written  by  Benjamin  Franklin 
bearing  on  the  Science  and  Art 
of  Medicine  and  exhibiting  his 
Social  and  Professional  Inter 
course  with  various  Physicians 
of  Europe  and  America 

By  Theodore    Diller 


ALBERT  T.  HUNTINGTON 
MCMXII 


Copyright,  1912 

By 
Albert  T.  Huntington 


Published  *eb.  26,  1912. 

Of  this  book  three  hundred  copies 
have  been  printed,  of  which  this  is 


DEDICATION 


tie  JBear  jflemorp  of  Jflp 


253785 


PREFACE 

T|  HE  Pittsburgh  Academy  of  Medicine,  before  whom 
I  this  essay  was  read  in  abstract  on  November  27,  1907, 
passed  a  resolution  at  that  time  requesting  me  to 
publish  it.  And  this  I  set  about  to  do;  but  delays 
in  the  matter  were  many  and  prolonged  with  the  result  that 
more  than  four  years  have  elapsed  between  the  preparation 
of  this  essay  and  its  publication. 

Probably  very  few  physicians  have  an  adequate  idea  of  the 
extent  of  Franklin's  writings  relating  to  their  profession  and  of 
the  soundness  and  the  very  substantial  character  of  some  of 
his  contributions.  Franklin  must  ever  be  accounted  as  fone  of 
the  greatest  benefactors,  friends  and  patrons  of  the  medical 
profession  as  well  as  a  most  substantial  contributor  to  the  science 
and  art  of  medicine.  Had  this  great  man  labored  only  in 
the  field  of  medicine  and  done  nothing  else  than  is  herein  set 
forth,  these  things  would  entitle  him  to  the  lasting  gratitude 
of  his  fellow  men.  T.  D. 


Pittsburgh,  Pa., 
January,  1912. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

INTRODUCTION    9 

A  BRIEF  SKETCH  OF  FRANKLIN'S  LIFE 10 

FRANKLIN'S  RELATIONSHIP  TO  MEDICINE  AND  THE  MEDICAL  PROFESSION.  18 

THE  PENNSYLVANIA  HOSPITAL 28 

FRANKLIN'S  CONNECTION  WITH  THE  FIRST  MEDICAL  SCHOOL  IN 
AMERICA,  AFTERWARDS  THE  MEDICAL  DEPARTMENT  OF  THE  UNI 
VERSITY  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 31 

FRANKLIN'S  RULES  OF  HEALTH  ;  WITH   SOME  ACCOUNT  OF  His  OWN 

HEALTH    31 

Rules  of  Health  and  Long  Life,  and  to  Preserve  from  Malig 
nant  Fevers,  and  Sickness  in  General 35 

Rules  to  Find  Out  a  Fit  Measure  of  Meat  and  Drink 36 

FRANKLIN  AS  A  MEDICAL  BOOK  PUBLISHER 45 

SWIMMING  AND  BATHING 45 

THE  VALUE  OF  FRESH  AIR  AND  PROPER  VENTILATION 48 

The  Nature  and  Contagiousness  of  "Colds" 48 

ANATOMY  AND  PHYSIOLOGY 59 

BI-FOCAL    SPECTACLES 66 

A  FLEXIBLE  CATHETER 67 

POKE- WEED  IN  THE  TREATMENT  OF  CANCER 68 

STATIC  ELECTRICITY  AS  A  REMEDY  FOR  THE  RELIEF  OF  PARALYSIS 69 

INOCULATION  AGAINST   SMALL-POX 70 

LEAD  POISONING  76 

INVESTIGATION  OF  MESMERISM 78 

A    FEW    MISCELLANEOUS    SCIENTIFIC    OBSERVATIONS    PERTAINING    TO 

MEDICINE  82 

POPULAR  MEDICINE 85 

REFERENCES    89 


1 


Franklin's  Contribution 
to  Medicine 


|HE  2OOth  anniversary  of  Benjamin  Franklin's  birth  was 
celebrated  last  year  with  appropriate  ceremonies  in 
Boston  and  Philadelphia;  and,  in  consequence,  the  life 
and  works  of  this  great  man  have  become  the  subject  of 
renewed  interest  and  study. 

Sainte-Beuve  pronounced  Franklin  the  most  French  of  all 
Americans.  Thomas  Carlyle,  beholding  a  portrait  of  Frank 
lin,  at  an  exhibition,  remarked  to  a  group  of  spectators,  "There 
is  the  Father  of  all  the  Yankees." 

The  life  and  works  of  Franklin  bearing  upon  Medicine  and 
the  Medical  Profession  are,  it  appears  to  me,  well  worthy  of 
study  and  contemplation  by  the  physician.  Toutourat,  in  a  small 
thesis  published  in  Paris,  in  1900,  has  previously  undertaken  this 
task  which  I  am  now  attempting.  I  know  of  no  other  essay  on 
Franklin  but  that  of  Toutourat,  which  has  for  its  object  the 
study  of  Franklin  from  the  standpoint  of  the  medical  man. 
Several  new  works  have  been  published  since  the  date  of  Toutou- 
rat's  essay,  containing  valuable  letters  and  information  concern 
ing  Franklin.  The  time,  therefore,  appears  to  me  appropriate 
for  another  attempt  to  study  Franklin  from  the  medical  man's 
point  of  view. 

We  of  the  medical  profession  may  claim  Franklin  as  one  of 
us,  for  he  was  a  member  of  the  Royal  Medical  Society  of 
Paris  and  an  honorary  member  of  the  Medical  Society  of 
London,  besides  holding  membership  in  several  medical 
societies  in  this  country.  He  was  largely  instrumental  in 


io  FRANKLIN'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  MEDICINE. 

founding  the  first  hospital  in  America,  wrote  the  inscription 
for  its  corner-stone,  served  as  clerk  and  later  as  president 
of  its  Board  of  Managers.  He  founded  the  College  of 
Philadelphia  which  gave  birth  to  the  first  school  of  medicine 
^  in  America.  He  was  a  medical  book  publisher  of  note.  He 

(^investigated  and  wrote  upon  many  problems  in  medicine.  To  the 
medical  profession  he  gave  the  Franklinic  electricity.  He  invented 
the  bi-focal  spectacles.  He  is  the  father  of  the  modern  scheme 
of  ventilation.  His  ideas  upon  the  contagiousness  of  colds 
which  he  stated  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago  have  within  the 
last  few  years  been  shown  by  medical  research  to  have  been 
correct. 

Franklin  knew  a  large  number  of  physicians  in  America  and 
Europe,  with  many  of  whom  he  corresponded  upon  or  discussed 
medical  matters.  Indeed,  it  is  through  this  correspondence  that 
we  learn  most  of  Franklin's  study  of  and  interest  in  medical 
matters.  Leaders  in  our  profession  sought  his  opinion  as  that  of 
a  colleague  and  even  came  to  him  like  pupils  to  a  master.  Frank 
lin's  title  of  "Doctor"  was  conferred  upon  him  by  the  University 

v/6f  St.  Andrews  in  1759.  The  title  was  that  of  Doctor  of  Laws. 
He  never  received  a  medical  degree  as  some  have  supposed  he 

(  jdid.  In  1762  the  degree  of  D.C.L.  was  conferred  upon  him  by 
the  University  of  Oxford. 

In  short,  Franklin's  contributions  to  medical  science  taken 
together  are  of  the  highest  scientific  and  practical  value.  It  may 
indeed  be  doubted  if  they  were  equaled  by  those  of  any  single 
contemporary  medical  man  in  America. 

It  seems  best,  for  the  sake  of  conpleteness,  to  begin  this  study 
of  Franklin  with  some  brief  account  of  his  life,  even  though  to 
do  so  is  to  go  over  familiar  ground. 

A   BRIEF  SKETCH    OF   FRANKLIN'S    LIFE. 

Franklin  was  born  January  6,  1706,  in  Boston,  and  was  bap 
tized  the  same  day;  he  died  in  Philadelphia,  April  17,  1790.  He 
was  the  youngest  son  of  a  family  of  seventeen,  and  he  relates 
that  he  can  recollect  when  thirteen  children  sat  down  together  at 
his  father's  table.  He  spent  only  two  years  at  school.  He  early 
manifested  a  love  for  books,  and  tells  us,  "I  do  not  remember 
when  I  could  not  read." 

He  was  unable  to  get  on  with  his  brother  James,  for  whom  he 
worked  as  a  printer  and  who  was  quick-tempered  and  domineer- 


BRIEF   SKETCH    OF   FRANKLINS    LIFE.  II 

ing,  so  he  ran  away  from  home  at  the  age  of  seventeen.  After  a 
short  stay  in  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  he  arrived  in 
Philadelphia. 

Franklin  entered  Philadelphia,  a  runaway-apprentice  boy,  in 
1721.  Of  this  he  tells  us  in  his  own  words: 

"I  was  in  my  working  dress,  my  best  clothes  having  gone 
around  by  sea.  I  was  dirty  from  my  journey,  my  pockets  were 
stuffed  with  shirts  and  stockings,  and  I  knew  no  soul,  nor  where 
to  look  for  lodging.  I  was  fatigued  with  travelling,  and  rowing, 
and  want  of  rest,  I  was  hungry;  my  whole  stock  of  cash  being 
a  Dutch  dollar  and  about  a  shilling  in  copper."  He  then  tells  us 
that  he  purchased  three  rolls  of  bread,  one  of  which  he  placed 
under  each  arm,  and  the  third  he  began  to  eat,  and  "Thus  I  went 
up  Market  Street  as  far  as  Fourth,  past  the  door  of  Mr.  Read, 
my  future  wife's  father;  she,  standing  at  the  door,  saw  me  and 
thought  I  made,  as  I  certainly  did,  a  most  ridiculous  appearance." 

At  his  funeral,  fifty-nine  years  later,  the  Governor,  the  Chief 
Justice  of  the  State,  and  the  Mayor  of  Philadelphia  served  as 
pall-bearers ;  and  among  those  in  attendance  were  the  chief 
officers  of  the  federal,  state  and  municipal  governments,  the  mem 
bers  of  the  Legislature,  the  judges  of  the  courts,  the  printers  of 
Philadelphia,  the  members  of  the  Philosophical  Society,  and  the 
College  of  Physicians.  Twenty  thousand  persons  attended  the 
funeral  of  the  runaway  printer  boy.  His  body  was  buried  in 
Christ  Churchyard ;  and  his  grave  with  the  simple  inscription 
over  it  may  be  seen  there  to  this  day. 

Surely  there  can  be  no  greater  contrast  between  the  beginning 
and  the  end  of  any  man's  life  than  is  to  be  seen  in  that  of  Frank 
lin's,  when  we  look  at  his  entry  into  Philadelphia,  and  then  at  his 
homecoming  from  France,  when  he  was  easily  the  first  citizen 
of  Philadelphia,  and  had  become  known  throughout  the  civilized 
world  as  a  man  eminent  in  philosophy,  science,  statecraft,  and 
renowned  for  his  literary  productions,  his  humor,  and  plain  com 
mon  sense. 

Soon  after  arriving  in  Philadelphia,  Franklin  entered  the 
printing  office  of  a  man  named  Keimer  as  an  apprentice. 

Keith,  the  Governor  of  Pennsylvania,  who  seems  to  have  been 
a  most  boastful  individual  with  a  lively  imagination  and  a  defec 
tive  sense  of  honor,  sent  Franklin  on  a  fool's  errand  to  London, 
where  he  arrived,  December  24,  1724,  as  penniless  as  when  he 
entered  Philadelphia.  Here  he  secured  employment  and  worked 


12  FRANKLIN'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  MEDICINE. 

at  his  trade  as  a  printer.  He  returned  to  Philadelphia,  October 
n,  1726.  In  1756,  he  again  set  out  for  England,  where  he  acted 
as  agent  for  three  of  the  colonies;  and  he  resided  abroad  until 
1785,  with  the  exception  of  two  rather  brief  visits  to  America 
made  during  this  period.  The  last  nine  years  of  this  period,  in 
many  respects  the  most  brilliant  of  his  career,  were  spent  in 
France.  Then,  in  1785,  we  find  him  returning  to  America,  per 
haps  the  most  conspicuous  figure  in  two  continents,  with  the 
unbounded  friendship  and  praise  of  the  French  people  on  one 
hand,  and  the  gratitude  and  admiration  of  his  countrymen  on 
the  other. 

The  years  from  1726  to  1757,  which  Franklin  spent  in  Phila 
delphia,  were  most  eventful  ones.  It  was  on  the  achievements 
and  habits  of  life  he  then  developed  that  his  subsequent  world 
wide  fame  rested.  He  was  only  twenty-one  years  old  when  he 
organized  the  Junto  Club,  which  was  at  first  called  the  "Leather 
Apron."  He  attained  rapid  success  as  a  printer  and  a  business 
man.  By  the  time  he  was  twenty-six  years  old  he  had  become 
the  editor  of  the  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  by  far  the  most  important 
newspaper  in  the  colonies ;  he  had  founded  the  Philadelphia  Pub 
lic  Library,  the  first  of  its  kind  in  America,  and  had  begun  the 
publication  of  Poor  Richard's  Almanac,  which  was  destined  to 
be  known  throughout  the  civilized  world  by  many  translations. 
He  entered  into  political  life  at  an  early  age  and  thus  secured  the 
"profitable  job"  of  printing  the  Pennsylvania  paper  money. 

Franklin's  great  industry,  thrift,  and  business  sagacity  made 
him  very  prosperous.  Indeed,  in  1748,  when  he  was  only  forty- 
two  years  old,  he  planned  to  retire  from  business  and  devote 
his  life  to  scientific  experiments  and  to  philosophical  studies. 
This  was  a  year  of  peace.  The  treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  had 
been  signed  and  it  was  thought  that  the  prospects  for  continued 
peace  were  now  good.  Only  two  years  before  Franklin  had 
begun  his  famous  series  of  experiments  in  electricity,  on  which 
his  fame  as  a  scientist  chiefly  rests,  and  he  now  hoped  to  continue 
them  in  peace  and  quiet.  His  fortune  was  now  ample  for  his 
needs.  But  he  was  destined  to  play  many  important  parts  before 
he  left  his  native  shores  in  1756. 

Franklin  served  in  the  Legislature  several  terms.  In  1753 
he  was  made  Postmaster  General  for  the  colonies.  Under  him 
the  office  for  the  first  time  showed  a  balance  on  the  right  side. 
After  Braddock's  defeat,  the  Governor  offered  Franklin  a  gen- 


BRIEF   SKETCH   OF   FRANKLIN'S    LIFE.  13 

eral's  commission  if  he  would  attempt  the  capture  of  Fort 
Duquesne.  It  will  be  remembered  that  Braddock's  expedition 
was  fitted  out  by  Franklin,  to  do  which  he  pledged  a  large  portion 
of  his  private  fortune.  Had  Braddock  listened  to  a  few  sage 
hints  given  him  by  Franklin,  his  crushing  defeat  might  have  been 
avoided.  Franklin  was  really  interested  in  or  started  nearly  every 
good  measure  or  institution  which  originated  in  Philadelphia 
during  the  years  he  lived  there.  This  is  not  the  place  to 
recount  his  public  services,  his  practical  inventions,  his  scien 
tific  observations,  or  his  literary  achievements,  so  I  must  con 
tent  myself  with  the  mere  mention  of  a  few  of  them. 

He  organized  a  State  Watch  in  Philadelphia;  founded  the 
Academy  which  was  the  beginning  of  the  University  of  Penn 
sylvania  and  from  which  originated  the  first  medical  school  in 
America;  established  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  which 
flourishes  to  this  day.  He  served  as  Justice  of  the  Peace  and  as 
a  member  of  the  Municipal  Council.  He  was  commissioned  to 
treat  with  the  Indians.  He  served  as  Postmaster  General.  He 
organized  the  first  fire  company  and  founded  our  first  library  in 
Philadelphia. 

He  had,  with  Dr.  Bond,  the  honor  of  founding  the  first 
hospital  in  America,  the  Pennsylvania  Hospital  of  Philadelphia. 
He  was  Colonel  of  a  regiment;  a  member  of  Congress, 
a  member  of  the  Constitutional  Convention,  a  Governor  of 
a  Colony,  Colonial  agent  at  London,  and  Ambassador  to  France. 

Franklin  investigated  the  phenomena  of  the  whirlwinds,  the 
Gulf  Stream,  and  the  thermometer.  He  made  numerous  experi 
ments  in  producing  cold  by  evaporation  and  was  the  first  to  do  so. 
Sir  William  Herschel,  the  foremost  physicist  of  his  age,  wrote 
Franklin  asking  his  opinions  on  astronomy.  By  Franklin's  in 
fluence  John  Bartram,  of  Philadelphia,  was  made  American 
Botanist  to  George  III.  He  interested  himself  to  send  rare  seeds 
from  America  to  Europe  and  from  Europe  to  America.  His 
observations  on  light  are  of  the  highest  order. 

Franklin  began  his  philosophical  and  scientific  studies  at  an 
early  age  and  continued  them  with  more  or  less  interruption  all 
through  his  life.  His  great  European  fame  rests  mainly  upon  his 
achievements  in  the  field  of  science.  Apparently  no  subject 
escaped  his  notice  or  failed  to  interest  him.  He  wrote  upon 
electricity,  seismology,  geology,  meteorology,  physics,  chemistry, 
astronomy,  mathematics,  hydrography,  horology,  aeronautics, 


14  FRANKLIN'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  MEDICINE. 

navigation,  agriculture,  ethnology,  paleontology,  medicine,  hy 
giene,  and  pedagogy. 

During  his  long  residence  in  England  and  France  Franklin 
met  a  large  number  of  persons  prominent  in  the  world  of  politics 
and  science.  When  he  sailed  for  England  in  1756,  he  had  gained 
high  distinction  as  a  man  of  letters,  a  diplomat,  a  philosopher, 
and  a  scientist;  and  this  reputation  steadily  grew  during  his 
residence  abroad.  When  he  returned  to  Philadelphia,  at  the  age 
of  seventy-nine,  after  nine  years'  residence  in  France,  to  spend 
at  home  the  four  years  that  were  yet  to  remain  of  his  life,  he  was 
one  of  the  most  commanding  figures  of  the  civilized  world ;  and 
his  name  was  a  household  word  in  America,  England  and  France. 
Franklin's  autobiography  ends  with  his  arrival  in  London  in  1756. 

He  made  two  visits  to  Scotland  where  he  met  many  men 
of  prominence — Hume,  Robertson,  Lord  Kames,  Alexander  Dick, 
Dr.  Cullen  and  Dr.  Alexander  Monro.  He  also  met  Adam  Smith, 
with  whom  he  discussed  subjects  in  political  economy.  It  is  said 
that  Smith  afterward  submitted  much  of  the  manuscript  of  "The 
Wealth  of  Nations"  to  Franklin  for  his  suggestions.  Upon  his 
return  to  Scotland,  a  few  months  later,  he  renewed  his  acquaint 
ance  with  these  gentlemen,  and  for  years  afterwards  he  corre 
sponded  with  several  of  them. 

In  a  letter  which  he  wrote  to  his  son  William,  dated  London, 
January  30,  1772,  Franklin  speaks  of  his  second  visit  to  Scot 
land,  where  he  met  his  old  friends  and  made  new  ones. 

Summing  up  Franklin's  manifold  activities  Parton  says  of 
him: 

"We  see  him  expatiating  in  his  letters  upon  such  diverse  topics 
as  chimneys  and  swimming;  metallic  roofs  and  spots  on  the  sun; 
the  average  fall  of  rain  and  fireproof  stairs;  the  torpedo,  the 
arnomica,  and  the  Northwest  Passage ;  the  magnet  and  the  im 
proved  wheels ;  glass-blowing,  Prince  Rupert's  drops,  and  the 
aurora  borealis ;  the  inflammatory  gases,  and  the  effects  of  vege 
tation  upon  the  air  and  water.  Nothing  escaped  him  that  trans 
pired  in  philosophic  circles,  and  his  remarks  on  subjects  agitated 
therein  were  always  valuable,  and  frequently  original.  It  is, 
however,  the  method  of  a  philosopher  that  chiefly  benefits  those 
who  come  after  him ;  the  method  being,  as  it  were,  the  pathway, 
which  when  discovered  and  described,  any  intelligent  mind  can 
pursue,  and  reach  interesting  results.  Franklin's  method  is  par 
ticularly  noticeable,  because  it  was  not  that  of  a  professor,  whose 


BRIEF   SKETCH    OF   FRANKLIN'S    LIFE.  1$ 

occupation  it  is  to  investigate,  but  that  of  a  man  naturally  inter 
ested  in  the  phenomena  surrounding  him,  who  studied  them  with 
a  purely  human  curiosity." 

Writing  of  his  sojourn  in  London  as  a  young  apprentice, 
Franklin  states  that  he  was  promised  an  introduction  to  Sir 
Isaac  Newton  and  regrets  that  he  never  met  him. 

Upon  his  second  trip  to  England  Franklin  met  Dr.  Shipley 
and  stayed  for  long  periods  at  his  home,  where  he  wrote  his 
autobiography.  Franklin  always  refers  to  Dr.  Shipley  as  "The 
good  Bishop  of  St.  Asaphs."  The  two  grew  to  be  very  warm 
friends.  Dr.  Shipley  was  a  staunch  friend  of  the  colonies  in  the 
House  of  Lords  when  his  brother  Bishops  were  opposed  to  our 
cause. 

Pitt  was  inaccessible  to  Franklin ;  and  he  never  met  that  com-  v  / 
manding  figure  in  London,  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson,  who,  as  is 
well  known,  had  a  strong  prejudice  against  Americans,  believing 
the  revolutionary  cause  unjust,  and  it  is  said  declined  to  meet 
Franklin. 

Priestley,  Cavendish,  and  Lavoisier  corresponded  with  Frank 
lin  on  the  subject  of  physics  and  chemistry.  Sir  Humphrey 
Davy,  who  had  a  fine  appreciation  of  literary  merit  as  well  as  of 
scientific  attainment,  writes : 

"The  style  and  manner  of  his  publication  on  electricity  are 
almost  as  worthy  of  admiration  as  the  doctrine  it  contains.  He 
has  endeavored  to  remove  all  mystery  and  obscurity  from  the 
subject.  He  has  written  equally  for  the  philosopher  and  for  tttex 
uninitiated ;  and  he  has  rendered  his  details  amusing  as  well  as 
perspicuous,  elegant  as  well  as  simple.  Science  appears  in  his 
language  in  a  dress  wonderfully  decorous,  the  best  adapted  to 
display  her  native  loveliness." 

Franklin  was  in  touch  with  many  of  the  most  distinguished 
men  of  England.  He  enjoyed  the  company  of  Mrs.  Montague 
and  Garrick  and  Lord  Shelbourne.  He  knew  Benjamin  West, 
Horatio  Gates,  Charles  Lee,  John  Hawkesworth,  Burke,  Hume, 
Kames,  Sir  John  Pringle,  Dr.  Fothergill  and  Dr.  Canton.  He 
dined  frequently  with  certain  of  these  gentlemen. 

In  France,  Franklin's  acquaintance  and  prestige  was  even 
greater  than  it  was  in  England.  Among  those  with  whom  he 
came  in  contact  in  this  country  may  be  mentioned  La  Duchesse 
d'Enville,  Due  de  la  Rochefoucauld,  M.  Turgot,  Due  de  Chaulnes, 
Comte  de  Crillon,  Vicomte  de  Sarfield,  M.  Brisson,  of  the  Royal 


i6 

Academy  of  Sciences,  Comte  de  Milly,  Prince  des  Deuxponts, 
Comte  d'Estaing,  Marquis  de  Mirabeau,  M.  Beaugeard,  Treasurer 
of  the  State  of  Brittany. 

"John  Adams  declared  that  Franklin's  reputation  was  more 
universal  than  that  of  Leibnitz  or  Newton,  Frederick  or  Voltaire ; 
and  his  character  more  beloved  and  esteemed  than  any  or  all  of 
them.  Surely  there  never  lived  a  man  more  idolized.  Every 
thing  about  him  was  imitated  and  extolled — his  spectacles,  his 
marten  fur  cap,  his  brown  coat,  his  bamboo  cane.  Men  carried 
their  canes  and  their  snuffboxes  a  la  Franklin,  women  crowned 
him  with  flowers,  and  every  patrician  house  in  Paris  showed  a 
Franklin  portrait  on  the  wall,  and  a  Franklin  stove  in  one  of  the 
apartments.  Busts  were  made  of  him  in  Sevres  china,  set  in  a 
blue  stone  with  a  gold  border,  and  barrels  of  miniatures  made  of 
the  clay  from  Chaumont  found  eager  purchasers.  When  Voltaire 
and  Franklin  kissed  each  other  in  the  hall  of  the  Academy,  the 
enthusiastic  sages  and  tribunes  thundered  their  applause — 'Behold 
Solon  and  Sophocles  embrace!"1  (Smyth.) 

Franklin's  conversation,  it  appears  upon  the  competent  testi 
mony  of  Talleyrand,  was  as  simple  and  direct  as  his  writing, 
which,  indeed,  gives  the  greatest  charm  to  his  literary  style. 
Speaking  of  his  philosophical  writings  Jeffery  remarked  that, 
"The  most  ingenious  and  profound  explanations  are  suggested 
as  if  they  were  the  most  natural  and  obvious  way  of  accounting 
for  the  phenomena."  Balzac  expressed  utmost  delight  in  the 
writings  of  Franklin. 

Franklin's  scientific  correspondence  was  carried  on  in  nine 
languages.  He  was  a  member  of  one  or  more  scientific  societies 
in  almost  every  country  of  Europe. 

Thomas  Jefferson  had  been  appointed,  March  10,  1/85, 
Franklin's  successor  as  minister  plenipotentiary.  He  had  already 
been  seven  months  in  France  under  commission  to  assist  Franklin 
and  Adams  in  negotiating  commercial  treaties  with  European 
powers.  He  had  noticed  the  universal  admiration  and  reverence 
with  which  Franklin  was  regarded.  He  said: 

"There  appeared  to  me  more  respect  and  veneration  attached  to 
the  character  of  Franklin  in  France  than  to  that  of  any  other 
person  in  the  same  country,  foreign  or  native.  I  had  frequent 
opportunities  of  knowing  particularly  how  far  these  sentiments 
were  felt  by  the  foreign  ambassadors  and  ministers  at  the  court  of 
Versailles.  *  *  *  The  succession  to  Dr.  Franklin  at  the 


BRIEF   SKETCH    OF   FRANKLIN'S    LIFE.  I? 

court  of  France  was  an  excellent  school  of  humility.  On  being 
presented  to  any  one  as  the  minister  of  America,  the  common 
place  question  in  such  cases  was,  'u  esff  Monsieur,  qui  remplacez 
le  Docteur  Franklin?'  'It  is  you,  Sir,  who  replaces  Dr.  Frank 
lin?'  I  generally  answered,  'No  one  can  replace  him,  Sir;  I  am 
only  his  successor.'  " 

Jefferson  also  wrote  to  Congress :  "Europe  fixes  an  attentive 
eye  on  your  reception  of  Dr.  Franklin.  He  is  infinitely  esteemed. 
Do  not  neglect  any  mark  of  your  approbation  which  you  think 
proper.  It  will  honor  you  here." 

Summing  up  Franklin's  character  as  a  scientist  and  a  philos 
opher  Parton  says : 

"Franklin  was  the  man  of  all  others  then  alive  who  possessed 
in  the  greatest  perfection  the  four  requisites  for  the  successful 
observation  of  nature  or  the  pursuit  of  literature — a  sound  and 
great  understanding,  patience,  dexterity,  and  an  independent 
income. 

"The  great  merit  of  Franklin  in  his  investigation  of  nature 
was  the  soundness  of  his  method,  which  was  this:  He  collected 
his  facts  diligently;  then  he  subjected  his  theory  to  every  test  that 
he  could  contrive;  and,  finally,  he  recorded  the  whole  process 
with  clearness  and  modesty  ** 

In  closing  this  short  and  very  imperfect  sketch  of  Franklin's  life, 
I  wish  to  quote  a  charming  picture  given  us  of  him  when  he  was  in 
the  evening  of  his  life,  quietly  living  in  Philadelphia  after  his 
return  from  France.  It  illustrates  "the  ruling  passion  strong  in 
death." 

A  scholarly  Massachusetts  clergyman,  Manasseh  Cutler, 
visited  Franklin  at  his  home  in  Philadelphia  after  his  return  from 
France.  Under  date  of  July  13,  1787,  he  makes  a  very  interesting 
note  in  his  diary,  from  which  I  quote: 

"He  showed  us  a  glass  machine  for  exhibiting  the  circulation 
of  the  blood  in  the  arteries  and  veins  of  the  human  body.  The 
circulation  is  exhibited  by  the  passing  of  a  red  fluid  from  a 
reservoir  into  numerous  capillary  tubes  of  glass,  ramified  in  every 
direction,  and  then  returning  in  similar  tubes  to  the  reservoir, 
which  was  done  with  great  velocity,  without  any  power  to  act 
visibly  upon  the  fluid,  and  had  the  appearance  of  perpetual 
motion. 

"He  seemed  extremely  fond,  through  the  course  of  the  visit, 
of  dwelling  on  philosophical  subjects,  and  particularly  that  of 


i8  FRANKLIN'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  MEDICINE. 

Natural  History;  while  the  other  gentlemen  were  swallowed  up 
with  politics.  This  was  a  favorable  circumstance  for  me,  for 
almost  the  whole  of  his  conversation  was  addressed  to  me,  and  I 
was  highly  delighted  with  the  extensive  knowledge  he  appeared 
to  have  of  every  subject,  the  brightness  of  his  memory,  and 
clearness  and  vivacity  of  all  his  mental  faculties,  notwithstanding 
his  age.  His  manners  are  perfectly  easy,  and  everything  about 
him  seems  to  diffuse  an  unrestrained  freedom  and  happiness. 
He  has  an  incessant  vein  of  humor,  accompanied  with  an  uncom 
mon  vivacity,  which  seemed  as  natural  and  involuntary  as  his 
breathing." 

FRANKLIN'S  RELATIONSHIP  TO  MEDICINE  AND  THE  MEDICAL 

PROFESSION. 

All  his  life  Franklin  took  a  deep  interest  in  medical  matters. 
He  made  many  experiments  and  observations  bearing  directly  or 
indirectly  upon  the  science  and  art  of  medicine.  Upon  one 
occasion,  in  writing  to  his  "Honored  father  and  mother,"  he  told 
them: 

"I  apprehend  I  am  too  busy  in  prescribing  and  meddling  in  the 
doctor's  sphere,  when  any  of  you  complain  of  ails  in  your  letters. 
But  as  I  always  employ  a  physician  myself  when  any  disorder 
arises  in  my  family,  and  submit  implicitly  to  his  orders  in  every 
thing,  so  I  hope  you  consider  my  advice,  when  I  give  any,  only  as 
a  mark  of  my  goodwill,  and  put  no  more  of  it  in  practice  than 
happens  to  agree  with  what  your  doctor  directs." 

Writing  to  John  Adams  in  1781,  he  remarked: 

"I  hope  your  health  is  fully  established.  I  doubt  not  but  you 
have  the  advice  of  skillful  physicians,  otherwise  I  should  presume 
to  offer  mine,  which  would  be,  though  you  find  yourself  well,  to 
take  a  few  doses  of  bark,  by  way  of  fortifying  your  constitution 
and  preventing  a  return  of  your  fever." 

The  Earl  of  Buchan  upon  one  occasion  credited  Franklin  with 
saving  his  life  when  he  lay  prostrated  with  fever.  His  physician, 
Dr.  Simpson,  ordered  that  the  patient  be  blistered.  Franklin  dis 
sented  from  this  view,  and  soon  afterward  the  patient  made  a 
speedy  recovery. 

To  Rev.  Samuel  Johnson  Franklin  wrote  the  following  letter, 
giving  some  sound  medical  advice: 

"DEAR  SIR  :  I  am  sorry  to  hear  of  your  illness.  If  you  have 
not  been  used  to  the  fever-and-ague  let  me  give  you  one  caution. 


FRANKLIN'S  RELATIONSHIP  TO  MEDICINE.  19 

Don't  imagine  yourself  thoroughly  cured,  and  so  omit  the  use  of 
the  bark  too  soon.  Remember  to  take  the  preventing  doses  faith 
fully.  If  you  were  to  continue  taking  a  dose  or  two  every  day 
for  two  or  three  weeks  after  the  fits  have  left  you,  'twould  not  be 
amiss.  If  you  take  the  powder  mixed  quickly  in  a  tea-cup  of 
milk,  'tis  no  way  disagreeable,  but  looks  and  even  tastes  like 
chocolate.  'Tis  an  old  saying:  That  one  ounce  of  prevention  is 
worth  a  pound  of  cure — and  certainly  a  true  one,  with  regard  to 
the  bark,  a  little  of  which  will  do  more  in  preventing  the  fits  than 
a  great  deal  in  removing  them. 

"But  if  your  health  would  permit  I  should  not  expect  the 
pleasure  of  seeing  you  soon.  The  smallpox  spreads  apace,  and 
now  in  all  quarters ;  yet  as  we  have  only  children  to  have  it,  and 
the  doctors  inoculate  apace,  I  believe  they  will  soon  drive  it 
through  the  town,  so  that  you  may  probably  visit  us  with  safety 
in  the  spring." 

Franklin's  old  friend,  Dr.  Peter  Collinson,  died  from  sup 
pression  of  urine  in  1768.  Writing  to  Dr.  Fothergill  Franklin 
makes  mention  of  the  fact  and  refers  to  a  similar  illness  from 
which  Fothergill  had  recovered,  and  he  adds :  "As  I  am  some 
times  apprehensive  of  the  same  disorder,  I  wish  to  know  the 
means  that  were  used  and  succeeded  in  your  case,  and  shall  be 
exceedingly  obliged  to  you  for  communicating  them  when  you 
can  do  it  conveniently." 

In  "Poor  Richard,"  Franklin  has  a  number  of  jokes  at  the 
doctor's  expense.  Among  them  are  these : 

"Beware  of  the  young  doctor  and  the  old  barber." 

"He's  the  best  physician  that  knows  the  worthlessness  of  the 
most  medicines." 

"Many  medicines,  few  cures." 

"There's  more  old  drunkards  than  old  doctors." 

"God  heals,  and  the  doctor  takes  the  fees." 

"Don't  misinform  your  doctor  nor  your  lawyer." 

"Don't  go  to  the  doctor  with  every  distemper,  nor  to  the 
lawyer  with  every  quarrel,  nor  to  the  pot  for  every  thirst." 

"Poor  Richard"  also  offers  some  excellent  hygienic  and  diete-. 
tic  suggestions.  For  example : 

"We  are  not  so  sensible  of  the  greatest  health  as  of  the  least 
sickness." 

"A  full  belly  makes  a  dull  brain ;  the  muses  starve  in  a  cook's 
shop." 


2o  FRANKLIN'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  MEDICINE. 

"Eat  few  suppers  and  you'll  need  few  medicines." 

"A  full  belly  is  the  mother  of  all  evils." 

"I  saw  few  die  of  hunger;  of  eating,  100,000." 

"He  that  steals  the  old  man's  supper  does  him  no  wrong." 

"Three  meals  a  day  is  bad  living." 

"If  thou  wouldst  live  long,  live  well ;  for  folly  and  wickedness 
shorten  life." 

From  "Poor  Richard's"  observations,  which  are  of  general 
application,  I  quote  four  which  every  physician  would  do  well 
to  lay  to  heart : 

"Want  of  care  does  us  more  damage  than  want  of  knowledge." 

"The  most  exquisite  folly  is  made  of  wisdom  spun  too  fine," 

"What  signifies  knowing  the  names,  if  you  know  not  the 
natures  of  things." 

"No  man  e'er  was  glorious  who  was  not  laborious." 

Although  Franklin  had  his  jokes  at  the  expense  of  physic  and 
the  physician,  he  had  a  great  respect  for  both.  For  all  through 
his  life  he  took  a  deep  interest  in  medicine  and  numbered  phy 
sicians  among  his  closest  and  most  intimate  friends.  He  talked 
to  and  wrote  to  many  physicians  in  America,  England,  and 
France,  not  only  upon  medical  subjects,  but  also  upon  other 
matters  of  scientific  interest  and  upon  philosophy  and  politics. 

Among  his  American  friends  were  Drs.  Thomas  and  Phineas 
Bond,  John  Redman,  Benjamin  Rush,  William  Shippen,  John 
Morgan,  Thomas  Cadwalader  and  John  Jones,  of  Philadelphia, 
Drs.  Cadwallader  Golden  and  John  Bard,  of  New  York,  and 
Dr.  Benjamin  Waterhouse,  of  Boston. 

In  England  Franklin  met  many  medical  men.  He  was  on 
intimate  terms  with  Sir  John  Pringle  and  Dr.  Fothergill  and 
knew  Sir  William  Watson,  William  Heberden,  Edward  Ban 
croft  and  William  Hewson.  A  distinguished  English  physician, 
John  Coakley  Lettsom,  wrote  a  life  of  Franklin.  In  Scotland 
Franklin  met  Dr.  Cullen,  Dr.  Alexander  Monro  and  other  phy 
sicians  of  the  Edinburgh  school. 

Among  the  French  physicians  with  whom  Franklin  came  in 
contact  or  corresponded  were  Dubourg,  Guillotin,  and  Vicq 
d'Azyr.  He  was  a  regular  correspondent  with  Dr.  Jan  Ingen- 
housz,  of  Vienna,  the  court  physician  to  Maria  Theresa  and 
Joseph  II. 

These  medical  men  at  home  and  abroad,  the  leaders  in  their 


FRANKLIN'S  RELATIONSHIP  TO  MEDICINE.  21 

profession,  sought  Franklin's  opinions  as  an  equal  colleague, 
and  even  came  to  him  in  the  attitude  of  pupils  to  a  master. 

In  Philadelphia  Franklin  did  an  immense  deal  for  medicine 
and  the  medical  profession.  With  Dr.  Bond  he  founded  the  first 
hospital  in  America.  From  the  College  of  Philadelphia,  which  he 
founded,  grew  the  first  medical  school  in  America.  He  pub- 
lished  several  medical  works,  and  by  his  criticism  and  advice 
rendered  material  assistance  to  the  authors.  Rush,  Bard,  Cadwala- 
der,  and  Thomas  Bond  dedicated  medical  works  to  him.  On  one 
occasion  Franklin  had  to  remonstrate  with  Rush,  who  desired  to 
make  use  of  a  most  "extravagant  encomium"  in  dedicating  one 
of  his  books  to  him.  Rush,  after  modifying  the  dedication, 
published  the  book  under  the  patronage  of  Franklin's  great  name. 

Dr.  Thomas  Cadwalader,  the  first  teacher  of  anatomy  in 
North  America,  aided  Franklin  in  establishing  the  Philadelphia 
Library  and  the  Pennsylvania  Hospital,  u^ 

Franklin's  friendship  for  medical  men  of  Philadelphia  and 
students  beginning  the  study  of  medicine  is  shown  in  the  follow 
ing  letter  written  by  him  to  William  Cullen,  M.D.,  from  London, 
October  21,  1761.  It  may  be  supposed  that  Shippen  and  Morgan 
were  fortunate  indeed  to  be  introduced  to  the  great  Edinburgh 
master  by  Franklin. 

"I  thank  you  for  the  civilities  you  were  so  good  as  to  shew 
my  friend,  Mr.  Shippen,  whom  I  took  the  liberty  of  recommend 
ing  to  your  notice  the  last  year.  Give  me  leave  to  recommend 
one  more  to  your  advice  and  countenance.  The  bearer,  Mr. 
Morgan,  who  purposes  to  reside  sometime  in  Edinburgh  for  the 
completion  of  his  studies  in  Physic,  is  a  young  man  of  Phila 
delphia,  whom  I  have  long  known  and  greatly  esteem ;  and  as  I 
interest  myself  in  what  relates  to  him,  I  cannot  but  wish  him  the 
advantages  of  your  conversation  and  instructions.  I  wish  it  also 
for  the  sake  of  my  country,  where  he  is  to  reside,  and  where  I  am 
persuaded  he  will  be  not  a  little  useful.  I  am,  with  the  greatest 
esteem  and  respect,  dear  sir,  your  most  obedient  and  most  humble 

servant, 

B.  FRANKLIN." 

Most  of  the  American  physicians  who  were  friends  and  co- 
workers  with  Franklin  are  well  known  and  need  no  introduction. 
But  brief  notes  on  a  few  who  are  not  so  well  known  may  be  of 
interest  in  this  place. 


22  FRANKLIN  S  CONTRIBUTION  TO   MEDICINE. 

Dr.  Benjamin  Waterhouse,  who  was  professor  of  Theory  and 
Practice  of  Medicine  in  Harvard  University,  had  taken  his  degree 
at  Leyden  and  was  the  first  physician  in  this  country  to  practice 
vaccination.  In  July,  1800,  he  vaccinated  his  own  children  from 
vaccine  virus  which  he  procured  from  Europe.  Dr.  Waterhouse 
was  a  nephew  of  Dr.  Fothergill  with  whom  Franklin  was  on 
such  terms  of  intimate  friendship. 

In  his  "History  of  Medicine  in  the  United  States,"  Packard 
gives  us  a  good  deal  of  information  concerning  Dr.  John  Jones, 
who  attended  Franklin  in  his  last  illness.  His  father  and  grand 
father  before  him  were  physicians,  the  former  having  come  to 
Philadelphia  with  Penn.  Dr.  Jones  published  a  treatise  on 
surgery,  which  passed  through  three  editions,  the  third  in  1795. 
Dr.  Packard  tells  us  that,  "Dr.  Jones  had  studied  medicine  under 
Dr.  Thomas  Cadwalader,  of  Philadelphia,  and  his  book  is  dedi 
cated  to  him  in  terms  of  warm  admiration.  After  completing  his 
studies  with  Dr.  Cadwalader,  Dr.  Jones  went  abroad  and  pursued 
his  medical  studies  in  London,  Edinburgh,  Leyden  and  France. 
He  received  the  degree  of  M.D.  from  the  University  of  Rheims. 
He  performed  the  first  lithotomy  ever  done  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  and  was  professor  of  surgery  in  the  Medical  School  of 
New  York.  In  1780  he  removed  to  Philadelphia  and  succeeded 
to  Dr.  John  Redman's  place  as  one  of  the  physicians  to  the 
Pennsylvania  Hospital.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
College  of  Physicians  of  Philadelphia  and  its  first  vice-president. 
He  was  a  friend  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  and  attended  that  great 
man  in  his  last  illness,  afterwards  publishing  a  very  interesting 
account  of  the  philosopher's  last  hours.  Dr.  Jones  died  in  June, 
1791,  in  the  sixty-third  year  of  his  age." 

Dr.  Cadwallader  Colden  was  a  Scotchman,  educated  in  Aber 
deen  and  Edinburgh.  He  came  to  Philadelphia  in  1708.  In  1718 
he  settled  in  New  York.  He  was  the  author  of  several  medical 
essays  and  a  botanist  of  note.  He  occupied  many  positions  of 
public  trust  and  became  quite  wealthy.  He  died  in  1776. 

We  get  a  very  good  glimpse  of  Franklin  through  the  eyes  of 
Rush,  who  refers  to  him  a  number  of  times  in  his  diary,  from 
which  the  following  passages  are  quoted: 

"1786,  August.  I  waited  on  the  doctor  with  a  Dr.  Minto.  He 
said  he  believed  that  tobacco  would  in  a  few  years  go  out  of  use. 
That  about  thirty  years  ago,  when  he  went  to  England,  smoking 
was  universal  in  taverns,  coffee-houses,  and  private  families,  but 


FRANKLIN  S  RELATIONSHIP  TO   MEDICINE.  23 

that  it  was  now  generally  laid  aside,  that  the  use  of  snuff,  from 
being  universal  in  France,  was  become  unfashionable  among 
genteel  people,  no  person  of  fashion  under  thirty  years  of  age 
now  snuffed  in  France.  He  added  that  Sir  John  Pringle  and  he  had 
observed  that  tremors  of  the  hands  were  more  frequent  in  France 
than  elsewhere,  and  probably  from  the  excessive  use  of  snuff. 
They  once  saw  in  a  company  of  sixteen  but  two  persons  who  had 
not  these  tremors  at  a  table  in  France.  He  said  Sir  John  Pringle 
was  cured  of  a  tremor  by  leaving  off  snuff.  He  concluded  that 
there  was  no  great  advantage  in  using  tobacco  in  any  way,  for 
that  he  had  kept  company  with  persons  who  used  it  all  their  life, 
and  no  one  had  ever  advised  him  to  use  it.  The  doctor  in  the 
8ist  year  of  his  age  declared  he  had  never  snuffed,  chewed,  or 
smoked. 

"Sept.  22d.  Waited  upon  Dr.  Franklin  with  Dr.  Thibou,  of 
Antigua.  The  doctor  said  few  but  quacks  ever  made  money 
by  physic,  and  that  no  bill  drawn  upon  the  credulity  of  the  people 
of  London  by  quacks,  was  ever  protested.  He  ascribed  the  suc 
cess  of  quacks  partly  to  patients  extolling  the  efficacy  of  the  reme 
dies  they  took  from  them  rather  than  confess  their  ignorance  and 
credulity,  hence  it  was  justly  said,  'quacks  were  the  greatest  liars 
in  the  world,  except  their  patients.' 

"November.  Spent  half  an  hour  with  Doctor  in  company 
with  the  Rev'd.  Mr.  Bisset  and  Mr.  Goldborough.  He  said  Sir 
John  Pringle  once  told  him  92  fevers  out  of  100  cured  them 
selves,  4  were  cured  by  art,  and  4  proved  fatal.  About  the  end 
of  this  month  I  saw  him  alone.  He  talked  of  climates ;  I  bor 
rowed  some  hints  from  the  conversation  for  the  essay  on 
climates." 

That  Franklin  was  a  man  of  the  world  and  well  acquainted 
with  the  temper  of  scientific  societies  as  regards  their  constitution 
and  membership,  is  well  seen  from  a  letter  which  he  wrote  to 
Rush  from  London,  July  22,  1774.  He  says: 

"DEAR  SIR  : 

"I  received  your  Favour  of  May  14,  with  the  very  ingenious 
Oration  you  delivered  at  the  Society,  for  which  I  thank  you.  The 
Bookseller  you  had  likewise  sent  it  to,  M.  Dilly,  being  desirous  of 
Dr.  Huck's  Opinion  &  Mine  as  to  its  Publication,  we  had  a  little 
Consultation  upon  it ;  the  Result  of  which  was,  that  tho'  the  Piece 
had  in  many  Respects  a  great  deal  of  Merit,  yet  as  there  were 


24  FRANKLIN'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  MEDICINE. 

some  Particulars  that  would  be  excepted  to  by  the  medical  People 
here,  many  of  whom  are  in  the  Royal  Society  &  have  great 
Weight  there ;  and  as  the  Society  generally  is  of  late  grown  more 
difficult  in  the  Admission  of  new  Members,  several  Candidates 
being  this  last  year  rejected,  and  a  Criticism  to  the  Disadvantage 
of  your  Piece  in  the  Reviews  or  otherwise  might  prejudice  some 
Votes  against  you ;  we  thought  it  best  the  Publication  should  be 
postponed  till  after  the  Ballot  for  your  Election ;  it  being  intended 
by  us  to  put  you  up  as  a  Candidate  at  the  next  meeting  of  the 
Society,  which  will  be  in  November,  and  we  are  unwilling  to 
hazard  your  being  refused,  as  it  would  be  better  not  to  propose 
you,  than  to  do  it  without  a  moral  Certainty  of  Success.  We 
therefore  advised  the  Bookseller  not  to  print  it  till  Winter,  which 
he  the  more  readily  agreed  to,  as  that  is  the  best  Season  for 
publishing." 

In  a  letter  to  Rush  three  days  later  he  writes : 

"I  took  the  Liberty  last  Year  of  recommending  to  the  Society 
for  Election  as  a  Member,  our  Friend  (and  Zealous  Friend  of 
America)  M.  Barbeau  Dubourg  of  Paris.  I  have  never  heard 
whether  it  was  done  or  not.  You  know  his  Merit  in  Science  to 
be  such  as  would  do  honour  to  any  Society  in  Europe.  Is  it 
possible  there  could  arise  any  Objection  to  his  Admission?" 

On  the  occasion  of  Braddock's  defeat,  Franklin,  by  his 
prudence  and  common  sense,  saved  his  two  friends,  the  Drs. 
Bond,  considerable  embarrassment,  of  which  he  tells  us  in  his 
autobiography : 

"Before  we  had  the  news  of  this  defeat  (Braddock's),  the  two 
Doctors  Bond  came  to  me  with  a  subscription  paper  for  raising 
money  to  defray  expenses  of  a  grand  firework,  which  it  was 
intended  to  exhibit  at  a  rejoicing  on  receipt  of  the  news  of  our 
taking  Fort  Duquesne.  I  looked  grave  and  said  it  would,  I 
thought,  be  time  enough  to  prepare  for  the  rejoicing  when  we 
knew  we  should  have  occasion  to  rejoice.  They  seemed  sur 
prised  that  I  did  not  immediately  comply  with  their  proposal. 

'Why  the  D 1!'  says  one  of  them,  'you  surely  don't  suppose 

that  the  fort  will  not  be  taken  ?'  'I  don't  know  that  it  will  not  be 
taken,  but  I  know  that  the  events  of  war  are  subject  to  great 
uncertainty.'  I  gave  them  the  reasons  of  my  doubting,  the  sub 
scription  was  dropt,  and  the  projectors  thereby  missed  the  mortifi 
cation  they  would  have  undergone  if  the  firework  had  been  pre- 


FRANKLIN'S  RELATIONSHIP  TO  MEDICINE.  25 

pared."    Dr.  Bond  afterward  said  that  he  did  not  like  Frank 
lin's  forebodings. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Franklin  gave  Dr.  John  Morgan  a 
letter  of  introduction  to  Cullen,  of  Edinburgh.  Not  many  years 
later,  he  advised  with  Bond  as  to  the  relative  claims  of  London 
and  Edinburgh  as  centers  of  medical  teaching,  since  Dr.  Bond 
was  then  proposing  to  send  his  son  abroad  that  he  might  have 
some  of  the  same  advantages  that  he  had  had  before  him. 
Under  date  of  London,  February  5,  1772,  Franklin  writes: 

"I  suppose  your  son  Richard  will  spend  some  time  in  London, 
where  by  what  I  have  heard,  Physic  and  Surgery  may  be  studied 
to  as  great  Advantage  as  in  any  Part  of  the  World,  by  Attending 
the  Anatomical  Lectures  and  Hospitals,  conversing  with  the  most 
eminent  Practitioners,  and  Reading  under  their  Advice  and  Direc 
tion  :  And  yet  the  general  Run  is  at  present  to  Edinburgh,  there 
being  at  the  Opening  of  the  Schools  when  I  was  there  in  Novem 
ber  last,  a  much  greater  Number  of  medical  Students  than  had 
ever  been  known  before.  They  have  indeed  a  Set  of  Able 
Professors  in  the  several  Branches,  if  common  Opinion  may 
be  rely'd  on.  I  who  am  no  Judge  in  that  Science,  can  only  say 
that  I  found  them  very  sensible  Men,  and  agreeable  Companions. 
I  will  endeavour  to  obtain  Sir  John  Pringle's  Advice  in  the  Affair, 
as  you  desire.  Every  Wednesday  Evening  he  admits  young 
Physicians  and  Surgeons  to  a  Conversation  at  his  House,  which 
is  thought  very  improving  to  them.  I  will  endeavour  to  intro 
duce  your  Son  there  when  he  comes  to  London.  And  to  tell  you 
frankly  my  Opinion,  I  suspect  there  is  more  valuable  knowledge 
in  Physic  to  be  learnt  from  the  honest  candid  Observation  of  an 
old  Practitioner,  who  is  past  all  desire  of  more  Business,  having 
made  his  Fortune,  who  has  none  of  the  Professional  Interest  in 
keeping  up  a  Parade  of  Science  to  draw  Pupils,  and  who  by 
Experience  has  discovered  the  Inefficacy  of  most  Remedies  and 
modes  of  Practice,  than  from  all  the  formal  Lectures  of  all  the 
Universities  upon  Earth.  I  like  therefore  a  Physician's  breeding 
his  son  to  Medicine,  and  wish  the  Art  to  be  continued,  with  the 
Race,  as  thinking  that  must  be  upon  the  whole  most  for  the 
Publick  Welfare." 

In  England  Franklin  was  on  most  intimate  terms  with  Priestley 
and  Dr.  Fothergill,  and  Sir  John  Pringle,  the  president  of  the 
London  Medical  Society.  In  1787  he  was  made  an  honorary 


26  FRANKLIN'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  MEDICINE. 

member  of  this  Society,  the  meetings  of  which  he  had  often 
attended  when  he  resided  in  London. 

Jefferson  relates  an  incident  of  Franklin  which  is  well  worth 
quoting.  "When  I  was  in  London,  in  such  a  year,  there  was  a 
weekly  club  of  physicians,  of  which  Sir  John  Pringle  was  Presi 
dent,  and  I  was  invited  to  attend,  by  my  friend,  Dr.  Fothergill. 
Their  rule  was  to  propose  a  thesis  one  week  and  discuss  it  the 
next.  I  happened  there  when  the  question  to  be  considered  was 
whether  physicians  have,  on  the  whole,  done  most  good  or  harm? 
The  young  members,  particularly,  having  discussed  it  very 
learnedly  and  eloquently  till  the  subject  was  exhausted,  one  of 
them  observed  to  Sir  John  Pringle,  that  although  it  was  not  usual 
for  the  President  to  take  part  in  a  debate,  yet  they  were  desirous 
to  know  his  opinion  on  the  question.  He  said  they  must  first  tell 
him  whether  under  the  appellation  of  physicians  they  meant  to 
include  old  women;  if  they  did  he  thought  they  had  done  more 
good  than  harm,  otherwise  more  harm  than  good." 

Franklin's  friend,  Sir  John  Pringle,  was  a  man  of  excellent 
parts.  He  had  studied  with  the  illustrious  Boerhaave.  He  did 
much  to  prevent  dysentery  and  hospital  fevers,  thus  improving 
the  condition  of  the  English  army.  With  Sir  John,  Franklin 
once  drove  in  a  post-chaise  through  Scotland,  Switzerland,  Hol 
land,  and  Germany.  Franklin  held  Sir  John  in  the  highest  esteem 
and  affection.  Upon  the  news  of  his  death  he  wrote  to  Dr. 
Ingenhousz,  October  2,  1781,  lamenting  their  loss.  "We  have  lost 
our  common  Friend,  the  excellent  Pringle.  How  many  pleasing 
hours  you  and  I  have  pass'd  together  in  his  Company!" 

With  Dr.  Fothergill  Franklin  discussed  questions  of  politics 
as  well  as  those  of  medicine ;  and  he  held  a  high  place  in  his 
esteem  and  affection.  Upon  the  death  of  Fothergill  he  wrote  a 
letter  of  condolence  to  Dr.  Benjamin  Waterhouse,  a  nephew  of 
Fothergill,  who  had  studied  at  Leyden  and  came  to  America  and 
set  up  a  practice,  and  who  was  Professor  of  Medicine  at  Harvard 
(1783-1812). 

"I  think  a  worthier  Man  never  lived.  For  besides  his  constant 
Readiness  to  serve  his  Friends,  he  was  always  studying  and  pro 
jecting  something  for  the  Good  of  his  Country  and  of  Mankind 
in  general,  and  putting  others,  who  had  it  in  their  Power,  on 
executing  what  was  out  of  his  own  reach;  but  whatever  was 
within  it  he  took  care  to  do  himself ;  and  his  incredible  Industry 
and  unwearied  Activity  enabled  him  to  do  much  more  than  can 


FRANKLIN'S  RELATIONSHIP  TO  MEDICINE.  27 

now  be  ever  known,  his  Modesty  being  equal  to  his  other 
Virtues." 

Another  of  Franklin's  English  medical  friends  was  Dr.  Will 
iam  Hewson,  a  brilliant  English  surgeon  who  was  cut  down  in  his 
usefulness  by  an  attack  of  blood  poisoning.  Hewson  married 
Miss  Mary  Stevenson,  to  whom  Franklin  wrote  so  many  delight 
ful  and  sprightly  letters. 

During  his  stay  in  London,  Franklin  was  a  frequent  visitor 
to  the  Royal  Society  Club,  if  he  was  not  a  member.  He  was  a 
member  of  a  London  Coffee-House,  at  Ludgate  Hill.  Here  he 
met  Dr.  Richard  Price,  Dr.  Priestley,  Dr.  Fothergill,  Peter  Collin- 
son,  Dr.  Hawksworth,  and  Stanley,  the  composer,  who  were 
all  members  or  frequenters  of  this  club,  the  weekly  meetings 
of  which  Franklin  keenly  enjoyed,  and  remembered  with  fond 
ness  to  the  close  of  his  life. 

The  physicians  of  France  honored  and  esteemed  Franklin  no 
less  than  did  their  colleagues  in  America  and  England. 

Vicq  d'Azyr,  physician  to  the  queen  of  France,  founded  the 
Royal  Society  of  Medicine  in  1776  and  became  its  perpetual 
secretary.  Franklin  was  elected  a  foreign  associate,  being  the 
first  to  receive  this  honor.  Vicq  d'Azyr  wrote  to  him:  ''The 
Royal  Society  recognizing  the  talents  and  brilliancy  of  the  phy 
sicians  of  America,  we  wish  to  confer  the  honor  of  correspondent 
upon  some  of  them,  and  we  judge  that  that  honor  would  be 
doubled  by  passing  through  Franklin's  hands,  and  therefore  hope 
that  he  will  present  the  diplomas." 

Dr.  Barbeu  Dubourg,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  physicians 
in  Paris,  a  member  of  many  societies,  translated  Franklin's  works 
into  French,  in  1772.  During  a  long  and  affectionate  friendship 
he  always  addressed  Franklin  as  "Mon  cher  maitre." 

Dubourg  was  a  member  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Medicine,  the 
Royal  Society  of  Montpellier,  the  Medical  Society  of  London, 
and  the  Academy  of  Sciences  of  Stockholm.  He  was  born  at 
Mayence,  February  12,  1709.  Like  his  brothers  he  studied  the 
ology,  and  abandoned  it  for  the  practice  of  medicine. 

Another  of  Franklin's  Parisian  doctor  friends  was  Dr.  Guillo- 
tin  (1788-1814),  who  was  Professor  of  Anatomy,  Physiology, 
and  Pathology  in  Paris.  He  assisted  Franklin  and  Lavoisier  in 
investigating  mesmerism.  He  consulted  Franklin  about  a  project 
of  emigration  to  America.  Letters  were  frequent  between  them. 


28  FRANKLIN'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  MEDICINE. 

His  name  was  destined  to  be  forever  linked  to  the  French  instru 
ment  of  execution. 

Gastellier,  a  French  medical  writer,  asked  Franklin  to  allow 
him  to  dedicate  to  him  his  treatise  upon  "Specifics  in  Medicine," 
a  work  which  was  recognized  by  the  Royal  Academy  of  Medicine. 
The  Marquis  of  Mirabeau  interceded  for  him  with  Franklin. 

Franklin  carried  on  an  extended  correspondence  with  Dr.  Jan 
Ingenhousz,  of  Vienna,  the  court  physician  to  Maria  Theresa  and 
Joseph  II.  Together  they  travelled  in  England  and  France.  On 
one  occasion,  Franklin's  advice  was  sought  by  Dr.  Ingenhousz 
concerning  the  propriety  of  inoculating  the  young  princess  of  the 
imperial  family. 

Jean  Baptiste  Le  Roy  was  highly  esteemed  by  Franklin.  Both 
were  members  of  the  French  Academy. 

On  the  recommendation  of  Franklin,  Dubourg  and  Ingen 
housz  were  made  members  of  the  American  Philosophical  So 
ciety. 


PENNSYLVANIA    HOSPITAL. 

Franklin  helped  found  not  only  the  first  hospital,  but  also  the 
first  medical  school  in  America;  and  if  he  had  no  other  claim 
upon  us,  he  should  be  forever  highly  honored  by  the  American 
Medical  Profession. 

Franklin's  account  of  the  founding  of  the  Pennsylvania  Hos 
pital,  taken  from  his  autobiography,  at  once  challenges  our 
interest  and  admiration.  The  successful  method  of  raising  funds 
for  America's  first  hospital  devised  by  Franklin  has  been  copied 
by  many  hospital  managers  in  the  succeeding  generations  down 
to  this  day. 

"In  1751,  Dr.  Thomas  Bond,  a  particular  friend  of  mine, 
conceived  the  idea  of  establishing  a  hospital  in  Philadelphia  (a 
very  beneficent  design,  which  has  been  ascrib'd  to  me,  but  was 
originally  his),  for  the  reception  and  cure  of  poor  sick  persons, 
whether  inhabitants  of  the  province  or  strangers.  He  was  zeal 
ous  and  active  in  endeavoring  to  procure  subscriptions  for  it, 
but  the  proposal  being  a  novelty,  in  America,  and  at  first  not  well 
understood,  he  met  with  but  small  success. 

"At  length  he  came  to  me  with  the  compliment  that  he  found 
there  was  no  such  thing  as  carrying  a  public-spirited  project 
through  without  my  being  concerned  in  it.  'For,'  says  he,  'I  am 
often  ask'd  by  those  to  whom  I  propose  subscribing,  "Have  you 


THE    PENNSYLVANIA    HOSPITAL.  2Q 

consulted  Franklin  upon  this  business?"  And  when  I  tell  them 
that  I  have  not  (supposing  it  rather  out  of  your  line)  they  do  not 
subscribe,  but  say  they  will  consider  of  it.'  I  inquired  into  the 
nature  and  probable  utility  of  his  scheme,  and  receiving  from  him 
a  very  satisfactory  explanation,  I  not  only  subscribed  to  it  myself, 
but  engaged  heartily  in  the  design  of  procuring  subscriptions 
from  others.  Previously,  however,  to  the  solicitation,  I  endeav 
ored  to  prepare  the  minds  of  the  people  by  writing  on  the  subject 
in  the  newspapers,  which  was  my  usual  custom  in  such  cases,  but 
which  he  had  omitted. 

"The  subscriptions  afterwards  were  more  free  and  generous ; 
but  beginning  to  flag,  I  saw  they  would  be  insufficient  without 
some  assistance  from  the  Assembly,  and  therefore  proposed  to 
petition  for  it,  which  was  done.  The  country  members  did  not  at 
first  relish  the  project;  they  objected  that  it  could  only  be  service 
able  in  the  city,  and  therefore  the  citizens  themselves  should  be 
at  the  expense  of  it ;  and  they  doubted  whether  the  citizens  them 
selves  approved  of  it.  My  allegation  on  the  contrary,  that  it  met 
with  such  approbation  as  to  leave  no  doubt  of  our  being  able  to 
raise  two  thousand  pounds  by  voluntary  donations,  they  con 
sidered  as  a  most  extravagant  supposition,  and  utterly  impossible. 

"On  this  I  formed  my  plan ;  and,  asking  leave  to  bring  a  bill 
for  incorporating  the  contributors  according  to  the  prayer  of 
their  petition  and  granting  them  a  blank  sum  of  money,  which 
leave  was  obtained  chiefly  on  the  consideration  that  the  House 
could  throw  the  bill  out  if  they  did  not  like  it,  I  drew  it  so  as  to 
make  the  important  clause  a  conditional  one,  viz.:  And  be  it 
enacted,  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  that  when  the  said  con 
tributors  shall  have  met  and  chosen  their  managers  and  treasurer, 

and  shall  have  raised  by  their  contributions  a  capital  stock  of 

— value  (the  yearly  interest  of  which  is  to  be  applied  to  the 
accommodating  of  the  sick  poor  in  the  said  hospital,  free  of 
charge  for  diet,  attendance,  advice,  and  medicine),  and  shall 
make  the  same  appear  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  speaker  of  the 
Assembly  for  the  time  being,  that  then  it  shall  and  may  be  lawful 
for  the  said  speaker,  and  he  is  hereby  required,  to  sign  an  order 
on  the  provincial  treasurer  for  the  payment  of  two  thousand 
pounds,  in  two  yearly  payments,  to  the  treasurer  of  the  said 
hospital,  to  be  applied  to  the  founding,  building,  and  finishing  of 
the  same). 

"This  condition  carried  the  bill  through;  for  the  members, 


30  FRANKLIN'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  MEDICINE. 

who  had  opposed  the  grant,  now  conceived  they  might  have  the 
credit  of  being  charitable  without  the  expense,  agreed  to  its 
passage,  and  then,  in  soliciting  the  subscriptions  among  the 
people,  we  urged  the  conditional  promise  of  the  law  as  an 
additional  motive  to  give,  since  every  man's  donation  would  be 
doubled;  thus  the  clause  worked  both  ways.  The  subscriptions 
accordingly  soon  exceeded  the  requisite  sum,  and  we  claimed  and 
received  the  public  gift,  which  enabled  us  to  carry  the  design  into 
execution.  A  convenient  and  handsome  building  was  soon 
erected;  the  institution  has  by  constant  experience  been  found 
useful,  and  flourishes  to  this  day ;  and  I  do  not  remember  any  of 
my  political  manoeuvres,  the  success  of  which  gave  me  at  the 
time  more  pleasure,  or  wherein,  after  thinking  of  it,  I  more  easily 
excused  myself  for  having  made  some  use  of  cunning." 

Although  the  idea  of  founding  the  Pennsylvania  Hospital 
originated  with  Dr.  Thomas  Bond,  to  whom  should  be  given  full 
credit,  yet,  without  the  active  interest  and  aid  of  Franklin,  it  is 
unlikely  that  the  hospital  would  have  been  built  at  that  time. 
The  petition  to  the  Assembly  of  Pennsylvania  was  drawn  up  by 
Franklin.  The  first  President  of  the  Board  of  Managers  was 
Joshua  Crosby;  and  Benjamin  Franklin  filled  the  office  of  clerk. 
Upon  the  death  of  Mr.  Crosby,  in  1754,  Franklin  succeeded  him 
as  President  of  the  Board  of  Managers.  The  design  for  the  seal 
for  the  hospital  was  devised  by  Franklin  and  Dr.  Thomas  Bond. 
The  inscription  for  the  corner-stone  for  the  hospital  was  written 
by  Franklin  and  reads  as  follows: 

IN  THE  YEAR  OF  CHRIST 

MDCCLV 

GEORGE   THE   SECOND   HAPPILY   REIGNING 
(FOR  HE  SOUGHT  THE  HAPPINESS  OF  HIS   PEOPLE) 

PHILADELPHIA   FLOURISHING 
(FOR   ITS    INHABITANTS    WERE   PUBLICK   SPIRITED) 

THIS  BUILDING 

BY    THE    BOUNTY    OF    THE    GOVERNMENT, 
AND  OF  MANY  PRIVATE  PERSONS, 

WAS   PIOUSLY   FOUNDED, 

FOR  THE  RELIEF  OF  THE  SICK  AND  MISERABLE; 
MAY  THE  GOD  OF  MERCIES 
BLESS  THE  UNDERTAKING. 


CONNECTION  WITH  THE  FIRST  MEDICAL  SCHOOL.  3! 

FRANKLIN'S  CONNECTION  WITH  THE  FIRST  MEDICAL  SCHOOL  IN 

AMERICA,  AFTERWARDS  THE  MEDICAL  DEPARTMENT  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  PENNSYLVANIA. 

The  College  of  Philadelphia,  which  had  been  founded  by 
Franklin,  organized  its  medical  department  through  the  efforts 
of  Drs.  John  Morgan  and  William  Shippen,  in  1766,  when  sys 
tematic  lectures  were  begun  in  this  the  first  medical  school  in  the 
United  States.  The  first  commencement  of  the  Medical  Depart 
ment  of  the  College  of  Philadelphia  was  held  in  1768.  Later 
dissensions  occurred,  and  on  November  27,  1779,  the  Legislature 
repealed  the  charter  of  the  College  of  Philadelphia  and  conferred 
all  the  powers  and  privileges  which  it  had  enjoyed  upon  "The 
University  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania."  The  friends  of  the  - 
College  were  very  much  displeased  by  this  action  and  worked 
steadily  and  persistently  for  the  repeal  of  the  bill.  They  finally 
succeeded,  and  on  March  6,  1783,  the  old  college  charter  again 
became  operative.  "Benjamin  Franklin  was  in  the  forefront  of 
those  who  fought  for  the  rights  of  the  College.  He  had  been  in 
Europe  at  the  time  the  bill  constituting  the  University  had  been 
passed.  The  founders  of  the  University  had  taken  the  liberty 
of  making  him  one  of  its  trustees,  but  immediately  on  his  return 
he  had  withdrawn  his  name  and  joined  with  his  old  colleagues 
of  the  College."  (Packard.) 

On  November  17,  1789,  the  trustees  of  the  College,  of  which 
Franklin  was  now  President,  published  a  set  of  rules  governing 
the  conferring  of  medical  degrees. 

FRANKLIN'S  RULES  OF  HEALTH  ;  WITH  SOME  ACCOUNT  OF  HIS 
OWN  HEALTH. 

Franklin  states  that  his  father  "had  an  excellent  constitution 
of  the  body,"  and  that  "I  never  knew  either  my  father  or  mother 
to  have  any  sickness  but  that  of  which  they  dy'd,  he  at  89,  and 
she  at  85  years  of  age." 

Franklin  must,  therefore,  have  inherited  his  splendid  con 
stitution  from  his  parents,  without  which  his  career  could  have 
been  neither  so  long  nor  so  glorious. 

He  inculcated  the  habit  of  moderation  in  eating  and  drinking, 
and  warned  against  free  indulgence  of  alcoholic  drinks  at  a  very 
early  age.  When  sixteen  years  of  age,  he  wrote  in  the  New  Eng 
land  Courant  the  following  lines  on  drinking: 

"I  doubt  not  but  moderate  drinking  has  been  improved  for  the 
Diffusion  of  Knowledge  among  the  ingenious  Part  of  Mankind, 
3 


32 

who  want  the  Talent  of  a  ready  Utterance,  in  order  to  discover 
the  Conception  of  their  Minds  in  an  entertaining  and  intelligible 
Manner.  'Tis  true,  drinking  does  not  improve  our  Faculties,  but 
it  enables  us  to  use  them,  and  therefore,  I  conclude,  that  much 
Study  and  Experience,  and  a  little  Liquor  are  of  absolute  neces 
sity  for  some  tempers,  in  order  to  make  them  accomplished 
Orators." 

It  was  about  this  time  that  he  became  a  vegetarian,  a  practice 
which  he  followed  up  after  he  left  Boston  and  became  a  resident 
of  Philadelphia.  Of  this  he  tells  us  in  his  autobiography  from 
which  I  quote. 

"When  about  sixteen  years  of  age  I  happened  to  meet  with  a 
book,  written  by  one  Tryon,  recommending  a  vegetable  diet.  I 
determined  to  go  into  it.  My  brother,  being  yet  unmarried,  did 
not  keep  house,  but  boarded  himself  and  his  apprentices  in  another 
family.  My  refusing  to  eat  flesh  occasioned  an  inconveniency, 
and  I  was  frequently  chid  for  my  singularity.  I  made  myself 
acquainted  with  Tryon's  manner  of  preparing  some  of  his  dishes, 
such  as  boiling  potatoes  or  rice,  making  hasty  pudding,  and  a  few 
others,  and  then  proposed  to  my  brother,  that  if  he  would  give 
me,  weekly,  half  the  money  he  paid  for  my  board,  I  would  board 
myself.  He  instantly  agreed  to  it,  and  I  presently  found  that  I 
could  save  half  what  he  paid  me.  This  was  an  additional  fund 
for  buying  books. 

"I  believe  I  have  omitted  mentioning  that,  in  my  first  voyage 
from  Boston,  being  becalm'd  off  Block  Island,  our  people  set 
about  catching  cod,  and  hauled  up  a  good  many.  Hitherto  I  had 
stuck  to  my  resolution  of  not  eating  animal  food,  and  on  this 
occasion  I  consider'd  with  my  master  Tryon,  the  taking  every  fish 
as  a  kind  of  unprovoked  murder,  since  none  of  them  had  or  ever 
could  do  us  any  injury  that  might  justify  the  slaughter.  All  this 
seemed  very  reasonable.  But  I  had  formerly  been  a  great  lover 
of  fish,  and,  when  this  came  hot  out  of  the  frying-pan,  it  smelt 
admirably  well.  I  balanced  sometime  between  principle  and  in 
clination,  till  I  recollected  that,  when  the  fish  were  opened,  I  saw 
smaller  fish  taken  out  of  their  stomachs ;  then  thought  I,  'If  you 
eat  one  another,  I  don't  see  why  we  mayn't  eat  you.'  So  I  din'd 
upon  cod  very  heartily,  and  continued  to  eat  with  other  people, 
returning  only  now  and  then  occasionally  to  a  vegetable  diet.  So 
convenient  a  thing  it  is  to  be  a  reasonable  creature,  since  it  enables 


FRANKLIN  S    RULES    OF    HEALTH.  33 

one  to  find  or  make  a  reason  for  every  thing  one  has  a  mind 
to  do. 

"Keimer  wore  his  beard  at  full  length,  because  somewhere  in 
the  Mosaic  law  it  is  said,  'Thou  shalt  not  mar  the  corners  of  thy 
beard.'  He  likewise  kept  the  Seventh  day,  Sabbath;  and  these 
two  points  were  essentials  with  him.  I  disliked  both ;  but  agreed 
to  admit  them  upon  condition  of  his  adopting  the  doctrine  of 
using  no  animal  food.  'I  doubt/  said  he,  'my  constitution  will 
not  bear  that.'  I  assured  him  it  would,  and  that  he  would  be 
better  for  it.  He  was  usually  a  great  glutton,  and  I  promised 
myself  some  diversion  in  half  starving  him.  He  agreed  to  try 
the  practice,  if  I  would  keep  him  company.  I  did  so,  and  we 
held  it  for  three  months.  We  had  our  victuals  dress'd  and 
brought  to  us  by  a  woman  in  the  neighborhood,  who  had  from  me 
a  list  of  forty  dishes,  to  be  prepar'd  for  us  at  different  times,  in 
all  which  there  was  neither  fish,  flesh  nor  fowl,  and  the  whim 
suited  me  the  better  at  this  time  from  the  cheapness  of  it,  not 
costing  us  above  eighteen  pence  sterling  each  per  week.  I  have 
since  kept  several  Lents  most  strictly,  leaving  the  common  diet 
for  that,  and  that  for  the  common,  abruptly,  without  the  least 
inconvenience,  so  that  I  think  there  is  little  in  the  advice  of 
making  those  changes  by  easy  gradations.  I  went  on  pleasantly, 
but  poor  Keimer  suffered  grievously,  tired  of  the  project,  longed 
for  the  flesh-pots  of  Egypt,  and  order'd  a  roast  pig.  He  invited 
me  and  two  women  friends  to  dine  with  him^  but,  it  being 
brought  too  soon  upon  the  table,  he  could  not  resist  the  tempta 
tion,  and  ate  the  whole  before  we  came." 

Writing  of  his  first  sojourn  in  London,  when  he  worked  there 
as  a  printer,  Franklin  makes  these  observations  in  his  auto 
biography  : 

"At  my  first  admission  into  this  printing-house  I  took  to 
working  at  press,  imagining  I  felt  a  want  of  bodily  exercise  I  had 
been  us'd  to  in  America,  where  presswork  is  mixed  with  com 
posing.  I  drank  only  water;  the  other  workmen,  near  fifty  in 
number,  were  great  guzzlers  of  beer.  On  occasion,  I  carried  up 
and  down  stairs  a  large  form  of  types  in  each  hand,  when  others 
carried  but  one  in  both  hands.  They  wondered  to  see,  from  this 
and  several  instances,  that  the  Water-American,  as  they  called 
me,  was  stronger  than  themselves,  who  drank  strong  beer!  We 
had  an  alehouse  boy  who  attended  always  in  the  house  to  supply 
the  workmen.  My  companion  at  the  press  drank  every  day  a 


34  FRANKLIN'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  MEDICINE. 

pint  before  breakfast,  a  pint  at  breakfast  with  his  bread  and 
cheese,  a  pint  at  dinner,  a  pint  in  the  afternoon  about  six  o'clock, 
and  another  when  he  had  done  his  day's  work.  I  thought  it  a 
detestable  custom;  but  it  was  necessary,  he  supposed,  to  drink 
strong  beer  that  he  might  be  strong  to  labor.  I  endeavoured  to 
convince  him  that  the  bodily  strength  afforded  by  beer  could  only 
be  in  proportion  to  the  grain  of  flour  of  the  barley  dissolved  in 
the  water  of  which  it  was  made;  and  that  there  was  more  flour 
in  a  pennyworth  of  bread;  and  therefore,  if  he  would  eat  that 
with  a  pint  of  water,  it  would  give  him  more  strength  than  a 
quart  of  beer.  He  drank  on,  however,  and  had  four  or  five 
shillings  to  pay  out  of  his  wages  every  Saturday  night  for  that 
muddling  liquor;  an  expense  I  was  free  from.  And  thus  these 
poor  devils  keep  themselves  always  under."  While  working  as  a 
printer  in  London  he  tells  us  that  "Our  supper  was  only  half  an 
anchovy  each,  on  a  very  little  strip  of  bread  and  butter,  half  a 
pint  of  ale  between  us."  The  object  of  this  economical  fare  was 
really  to  save  money  with  which  to  buy  books  rather  than  for 
hygienic  reasons. 

Franklin  approved  of  water  used  internally  and  also  exter 
nally.  Swimming,  he  held,  was  one  of  the  most  healthful  and 
agreeable  exercises  in  the  world  and  a  remedy  for  diarrhoea.  He 
strongly  advocated  warm  baths,  "for  cleanliness  and  purifying 
the  skin" ;  and  he  states,  "I  speak  from  my  own  experience,  and 
that  of  others,  to  whom  I  have  recommended  this." 

In  1735  he  suffered  from  some  ailment  characterized  by 
suppuration  from  the  lungs.  Just  prior  to  this  time,  he  thought 
he  had  avoided  an  illness  by  drinking  very  freely  of  cold  water 
and  by  sweating  himself.  This  treatment  is  interesting;  for  at 
that  time  and  for  years  afterward  it  was  the  practice  to  forbid 
fever  patients  water. 

To  relieve  some  skin  affection  of  which  he  began  to  suffer  in 
1778,  he  states,  "I  took  a  hot  bath  twice  a  week,  two  hours  at  a 
time."  He  assures  us  that  he  derived  great  benefit  from  this 
prolonged  bathing  and  suffered  afterwards  by  neglecting  to  take 
them.  Some  years  later,  he  took  a  daily  prolonged  warm  bath 
in  a  copper  vessel  shaped  like  a  slipper.  Cutler  states  he  would 
sit  in  the  heel  of  this  vessel  with  his  legs  under  the  vamp,  while 
on  the  instep  he  had  fixed  a  place  for  his  books  so  that  he  might 
read  while  in  the  bath. 

Franklin's  early  advocacy  of  the  free  use  of  water  internally 


FRANKLIN'S  RULES  OF  HEALTH.  35 

and  externally,  including  the  use  of  the  prolonged  warm  bath, 
seems  very  remarkable  in  view  of  some  of  the  later  developments 
in  medical  practice.  The  prolonged  warm  bath  in  skin  affections 
and  as  a  sedative  for  the  various  pyschoses  seems  to  us  very 
modern ;  and  it  is  only  a  very  few  years  since  the  bath  has  become 
the  chief  therapeutic  agent  in  the  treatment  of  typhoid  and  other 
fevers. 

Franklin,  too,  was  a  strong  advocate  of  fresh  air,  as  will  be 
seen  later. 

He  argued  against  the  use  of  tobacco  and  never  indulged 
in  it.  Although  very  temperate  in  the  use  of  alcoholic  liquors  in 
his  earlier  life,  he  appears  to  have  grown  rather  indulgent  in  this 
respect  as  he  grew  older. 

Franklin  formulated  the  following  hygienic  and  dietetic  rules 
when  he  published  "Poor  Richard." 

Rules  of  Health  and  Long  Life,  and  to  Preserve  from  Malignant 
Fevers,  and  Sickness  in  General. 

"Eat  and  drink  such  an  exact  quantity  as  the  constitution  of 
thy  body  allows  of,  in  reference  to  the  service  of  the  mind. 

"They  that  study  much,  ought  not  to  eat  so  much  as  those  that 
work  hard,  their  digestion  being  not  so  good. 

"The  exact  quantity  and  quality  being  found  out,  is  to  be  kept 
to  constantly. 

"Excess  in  all  other  things  whatever,  as  well  as  in  meat  and 
drink,  is  also  to  be  avoided. 

"Youth,  age  and  sick  require  a  different  quantity. 

"And  so  do  those  contrary  complexions ;  for  that  wrhich  is  too 
much  for  a  flegmatick  man,  is  not  sufficient  for  a  cholerick. 

"The  measure  of  food  ought  to  be  (as  much  as  possibly  may 
be)  exactly  proportionable  to  the  quality  and  condition  of  the 
stomach,  because  the  stomach  digests  it. 

"That  quantity  that  is  sufficient,  the  stomach  can  perfectly 
concoct  and  digest,  and  it  sufficeth  the  due  nourishment  of  the 
body. 

"A  greater  quantity  of  some  things  may  be  eaten  than  of 
others,  some  being  of  lighter  digestion  than  others. 

"The  difficulty  lies,  in  finding  out  an  exact  measure;  but  eat 
for  necessity,  not  pleasure,  for  lust  knows  not  where  necessity 
ends. 

"Would'st  thou  enjoy  a  long  life,  a  healthy  body,  and  a  vigor- 


36  FRANKLIN'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  MEDICINE. 

ous  mind,  and  be  acquainted  also  with  the  wonderful  works  of 
God?  Labor  in  the  first  place  to  bring  thy  appetite  into  subjec 
tion  to  reason." 

Rules  to  Find  Out  a  Fit  Measure  of  Meat  and  Drink. 

"If  thou  eatest  so  much  as  makes  thee  unfit  for  study,  or 
other  business,  thou  exceedest  the  due  measure. 

"If  thou  art  dull  and  heavy  after  meat,  it's  a  sign  thou  hast 
exceeded  the  due  measure ;  for  meat  and  drink  ought  to  refresh 
the  body,  and  make  it  cheerful,  and  not  to  dull  and  oppress  it. 

"If  thou  findest  these  ill  symptoms,  consider  whether  too 
much  meat,  or  too  much  drink  occasions  it,  or  both,  and  abate  by 
little  and  little,  till  thou  findest  the  inconveniency  removed. 

"Keep  out  of  the  sight  of  feasts  and  banquets  as  much  as  may 
be ;  for  'tis  more  difficult  to  refrain  good  cheer  when  it's  present, 
than  from  the  desire  of  it  when  it  is  away;  and  like  you  may 
observe  in  the  objects  of  all  the  other  senses. 

"If  a  man  casually  exceeds,  let  him  fast  the  next  meal,  and 
all  may  be  well  again,  provided  it  be  not  too  often  done ;  as  if  he 
exceed  at  dinner,  let  him  refrain  at  supper,  etc. 

"A  temperate  diet  frees  from  diseases;  such  are  seldom  ill, 
but  if  they  are  surprised  with  a  sickness,  they  bear  it  better,  and 
recover  sooner;  for  most  distempers  have  their  original  from 
repletion. 

"Use  now  and  then,  a  little  exercise  a  quarter  of  an  hour 
before  each  meal,  as  to  swing  your  arms  about  with  a  small 
weight  in  each  hand;  to  leap,  or  the  like,  for  that  stirs  the 
muscles  of  the  breast. 

"A  temperate  diet  arms  the  body  against  all  external  acci 
dents  ;  so  that  they  are  not  so  easily  hurt  by  heat,  cold  or  labor ; 
if  they  at  any  time  should  be  prejudiced,  they  are  more  easily 
cured,  either  of  wounds,  dislocations,  or  bruises. 

"But  when  malignant  fevers  are  rife  in  the  country  or  city 
where  thou  dwelst,  'tis  advisable  to  eat  and  drink  more  freely,  by 
way  of  prevention,  for  these  diseases  that  are  not  caused  by 
repletion,  and  seldom  attack  full-feeders. 

"A  sober  diet  makes  a  man  die  without  pain ;  it  maintains  the 
senses  in  vigor;  it  mitigates  the  violence  of  passions  and  affec 
tions. 

"It  preserves  the  memory,  it  helps  the  understanding,  it  allays 
the  heat  of  lust ;  it  brings  a  man  to  a  consideration  of  his  latter 


FRANKLIN'S  RULES  OF  HEALTH.  37 

end ;  it  makes  the  body  a  fit  tabernacle  for  the  Lord  to  dwell  in ; 
which  makes  us  happy  in  this  world,  and  eternally  happy  in  the 
world  to  come,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord  and  Saviour." 

Writing  to  his  son  William  from  London,  on  August  19,  1772, 
Franklin  discusses,  in  a  most  interesting  way,  the  value  of  exer 
cise. 

"In  yours  of  May  I4th,  you  acquaint  me  with  your  indis 
position,  which  gave  me  great  concern.  The  resolution  you  have 
taken  to  use  more  exercise  is  extremely  proper;  and  I  hope  you 
will  steadily  perform  it.  It  is  of  the  greatest  importance  to  pre 
vent  diseases,  since  the  cure  of  them  by  physic  is  so  very  pre 
carious. 

"In  consideration  of  the  different  kinds  of  exercise,  I  have 
thought,  that  the  quantum  of  each  is  to  be  judged  of,  not  by  time 
or  distance,  but  by  the  degree  of  warmth  it  produces  in  the  body. 
Thus,  when  I  observe,  if  I  am  cold  when  I  get  into  a  carriage  in 
a  morning,  I  may  ride  all  day  without  being  warmed  by  it;  that, 
if  on  horseback,  my  feet  are  cold,  I  may  ride  some  hours  before 
they  become  warm;  but  if  I  am  ever  so  cold  on  foot,  I  cannot 
walk  an  hour  briskly,  without  glowing  from  head  to  foot  by  the 
quickened  circulation,  I  have  been  ready  to  say  (using  round 
numbers  without  regard  to  exactness,  but  merely  to  mark  a  great 
difference)  that  there  is  more  exercise  in  one  mile's  riding  on 
horseback,  than  in  five  in  a  coach;  and  more  in  one  mile's  walk 
ing  on  foot,  than  five  on  horseback;  to  which  I  may  add,  that 
there  is  more  in  walking  one  mile  up  and  down  stairs,  than  in 
five  on  a  level  floor.  The  two  latter  exercises  may  be  had  within 
doors  when  the  weather  discourages  going  abroad;  and  the  last 
may  be  had  when  one  is  pinched  for  time,  as  containing  a  great 
quantity  of  exercise  of  the  latter  compendious  kind.  By  use  of  it 
I  have  in  forty  swings  quickened  my  pulse  from  sixty  to  a  hun 
dred  beats  in  a  minute,  counted  by  a  second  watch ;  and  I  suppose 
the  warmth  generally  increases  with  quickness  of  pulse." 

As  Franklin  grew  older  he  relaxed  many  of  the  excellent 
hygienic  and  dietetic  rules  by  which  he  had  been  governed  in  his 
early  life.  Indeed,  he  himself  often  violated  the  maxims  which 
were  inculcated  by  "Poor  Richard." 

That  he  grew  to  appreciate  the  pleasures  of  the  table  may  be 
seen  by  the  following  remark  he  once  made : 

"Many  people  are  fond  of  accounts  of  old  buildings  and 
monuments,  but  for  one,  I  confess  that  if  I  could  find  in  any 


38  FRANKLIN'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  MEDICINE. 

Italian  travels  a  receipt  for  making  Parmesan  cheese  it  would 
give  me  more  satisfaction  than  a  transcript  of  any  inscription 
from  any  old  stone  whatever." 

In  1757  he  referred  to  himself  as  "Dr.  Fatsides,"  and  even 
before  this  he  admits  to  "a  little  natural  indolence."  "In  1778, 
Adams  writes  of  him  that  he  'loves  his  Ease,  hates  to  offend,  and 
seldom  gives  any  opinion  until  obliged  to  do  so.' ': 

Later  in  his  life  he  writes  of  himself:  "For  my  own  part," 
he  says,  "everything  of  difficult  discussion,  and  that  requires 
close  attention  of  mind  and  an  application  of  long  continuance, 
grows  irksome  to  me,  and  where  there  is  not  some  absolute  neces 
sity  for  it,  as  in  the  settlement  of  accounts,  or  the  like,  I  am  apt 
to  indulge  the  indolence  usually  attending  age,  in  postponing  such 
business  from  time  to  time;  though  continually  resolving  to  do 
it."  For  a  time  Franklin  combatted  this  tendency,  but  soon 
again  relapsed  into  his  old  habits. 

In  1727  Franklin  was  taken  down  with  his  first  illness,  a 
pleurisy,  which  he  tells  us  nearly  carried  him  off.  While  con 
valescing  he  regretted  "that  I  must  now,  sometime  or  other, 
have  all  that  disagreeable  work  to  do  over." 

In  1749  Franklin  began  to  suffer  from  the  gout,  which 
troubled  him  at  intervals  during  the  remainder  of  his  life.  The 
attacks  were  at  first  not  serious;  and  once  for  a  period  of  five 
years  he  was  free  from  attacks. 

He  wrote  his  wife  from  London,  December  21,  1768:  "Walk 
ing  a  great  deal  tires  me  less  than  it  used  to  do.  I  feel  stronger 
and  more  active.  Yet  I  would  not  have  you  think  that  I  fancy  I 
shall  grow  young  again.  I  know  that  according  to  the  Course  of 
Nature  I  cannot  at  most  continue  much  longer,  and  that  the  living 
even  of  another  Day  is  uncertain.  I  therefore  now  form  no 
Schemes,  but  such  as  are  of  immediate  Execution;  indulging 
myself  in  no  future  Prospect  except  one,  that  of  returning  to 
Philadelphia,  there  to  spend  the  Evening  of  Life  with  my 
Friends  and  Family."  Again  on  June  10,  1760: 

"On  Friday  came  on  a  Fit  of  the  Gout,  from  which  I  had 
been  free  Five  Years.  Immediately  the  Inflammation  and  Swell 
ing  in  my  throat  disappeared;  my  foot  swelled  greatly,  and  I 
was  confined  about  three  Weeks;  since  which  I  am  perfectly 
well,  the  Giddiness  and  every  other  disagreeable  symptom  hav 
ing  quite  left  me."  Again  on  May  5,  1772: 

"I  thank  you  for  your  Advice  about  putting  back  a  Fit  of  the 


FRANKLIN'S  RULES  OF  HEALTH.  39 

Gout.  I  shall  never  attempt  such  a  Thing.  Indeed,  I  have  not 
much  occasion  to  complain  of  the  Gout,  having  had  but  two  slight 
Fits  since  I  came  last  to  England." 

Writing  to  General  Washington  from  Philadelphia,  on  June 
21,  1776,  Franklin  says:  "I  am  just  recovering  from  a  severe 
Fit  of  the  Gout  which  has  kept  me  from  Congress  almost  ever 
since  you  left  us,  so  that  I  know  little  of  what  has  pass'd  there, 
except  that  a  Declaration  of  Independence  is  preparing." 

In  Franklin's  well-known  dialogues  between  himself  and  the 
gout  was  a  humorous  note  to  Madame  Brillon.  There  is  much 
besides  humor  in  the  dialogue.  It  clearly  indicates  Franklin's 
appreciation  of  the  conservative  and  corrective  value  of  diseases. 
In  spite  of  his  suffering  he  was  able  to  recognize  that  the  pains 
of  the  gout  were  not  an  unmixed  evil. 

In  1779,  while  at  the  court  of  France,  a  serious  seizure  of 
gout  interfered  with  his  diplomatic  duties. 

Franklin's  account  of  his  treatment  of  the  gout  is  worth 
quoting : 

"I  forgot  to  acquaint  you,"  he  told  his  friend,  Dr.  Small,  "that 
I  had  treated  it  (my  gout)  a  little  cavalierly  in  its  last  accesses. 
Finding  one  night  that  my  foot  gave  me  more  pain  after  it  was 
covered  warm  in  bed,  I  put  it  out  of  bed  naked ;  and  perceiving  it 
easier,  I  let  it  remain  longer  than  I  had  at  first  designed,  and  at 
length  fell  asleep,  leaving  it  there  till  morning.  The  pain  did  not 
return,  and  I  grew  well.  Next  winter,  having  a  second  attack, 
I  repeated  the  experiment;  not  with  such  immediate  success  in 
dismissing  the  gout,  but  constantly  with  the  effect  of  rendering  it 
less  painful,  so  that  it  permitted  me  to  sleep  every  night.  I 
should  mention  that  it  was  my  son  who  gave  me  the  first  intima 
tion  of  this  practice.  He  being  in  the  old  opinion,  that  the  gout 
was  to  be  drawn  out  by  transpiration ;  and  having  heard  me  say, 
that  perspiration  was  carried  on  more  copiously  when  the  body 
was  naked  than  when  clothed,  he  put  his  foot  out  of  bed  to  in 
crease  that  discharge,  and  found  ease  by  it,  which  he  thought  a 
confirmation  of  the  doctrine.  But  this  method  requires  to  be 
confirmed  by  more  experiments  before  one  can  conscientiously 
recommend  it." 

Franklin  complained  of  his  eyesight  as  early  as  1755.  In 
1776  he  devised  a  pair  of  spectacles  for  himself,  each  glass  con 
taining  two  lenses  joined  together  by  a  horizontal  line  in  the 


4O  FRANKLIN'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  MEDICINE. 

center.     The  upper  lense  for  distance  and  the  lower  one  for  near 
vision. 

The  following  extracts  from  a  letter  written  to  his  wife,  dated 
London,  Nov.  22,  1757,  giving  an  account  of  his  illness,  his  be 
havior  as  a  patient,  etc.,  are  of  interest : 
"My  DEAR  CHILD: 

"During  my  illness,  which  continued  near  eight  weeks,  I  wrote 
you  several  little  letters,  as  I  was  able.  The  last  was  by  the 
packet  which  sailed  from  Falmouth  above  a  week  since.  In  that 
I  informed  you,  that  my  intermittent  fever,  which  had  continued 
to  harass  me,  by  frequent  relapses,  was  gone  off,  and  I  had  ever 
since  been  gathering  strength  and  flesh.  My  doctor,  Fothergill, 
who  had  forbid  me  the  use  of  pen  and  ink,  now  permits  me  to 
write  as  much  as  I  can  without  over- fatiguing  myself,  and  there 
fore  I  sit  down  to  write  more  fully  than  I  have  hitherto  been  able 
to  do. 

"The  second  of  September  I  wrote  to  you  that  I  had  had  a 
violent  cold  and  something  of  a  fever,  but  that  it  was  almost 
gone.  However,  it  was  not  long  before  I  had  another  severe 
cold,  which  continued  longer  than  the  first,  attended  by  great  pain 
in  my  head,  the  top  of  which  was  very  hot,  and  when  the  pain 
went  off,  very  sore  and  tender.  These  fits  of  pain  continued 
sometimes  longer  than  at  others ;  seldom  less  than  12  hours,  and 
once  36  hours.  I  was  now  and  then  a  little  delirious:  they 
cupped  me  on  the  back  of  the  head,  which  seemed  to  ease  me  for 
the  present;  I  took  a  great  deal  of  bark,  both  in  substance  and 
infusion,  and  too  soon  thinking  myself  well,  I  ventured  out  twice, 
to  do  a  little  business  and  forward  the  service  I  am  engaged  in, 
and  both  times  got  fresh  cold  and  fell  again;  my  good  doctor 
grew  very  angry  with  me  for  acting  contrary  to  his  cautions  and 
directions,  and  obliged  me  to  promise  more  observance  for  the 
future.  He  attended  me  very  carefully  and  affectionately;  and 
the  good  lady  of  the  house  nursed  me  kindly;  Billy  was  also  of 
great  service  to  me,  in  going  from  place  to  place,  where  I  could 
not  go  myself,  and  Peter  was  very  diligent  and  attentive.  I  took 
so  much  bark  in  various  ways  that  I  began  to  abhor  it;  I  durst 
not  take  a  vomit,  for  fear  of  my  head;  but  at  last  I  was  seized 
one  morning  with  a  vomiting  and  purging,  the  latter  of  which 
continued  the  greater  part  of  the  day,  and  I  believe  was  a  kind 
of  crisis  to  the  distemper,  carrying  it  clear  off;  for  ever  since  I 
feel  quite  lightsome,  and  am  every  day  gathering  strength;  so 


41 

I  hope  my  seasoning  is  over,  and  that  I  shall  enjoy  better  health 
during  the  rest  of  my  stay  in  England. 

"It  is  now  twelve  days  since  I  began  to  write  this  letter,  and 
I  still  continue  well,  but  have  not  yet  quite  recovered  my  strength, 
flesh,  or  spirits.  I  every  day  drink  a  glass  of  infusion  of  bark  in 
wine,  by  way  of  prevention,  and  hope  my  fever  will  no  more 
return;  on  fair  days,  which  are  but  few,  I  venture  out  about 
noon.  The  agreeable  conversation  I  meet  with  among  men  of 
learning,  and  the  notice  taken  of  me  by  persons  of  distinction, 
are  the  principal  things  that  soothe  me  for  the  present,  under 
this  painful  absence  from  my  family  and  friends.  Yet  those 
would  not  keep  me  here  another  week,  if  I  had  not  other  induce 
ments  ;  duty  to  my  country,  and  hopes  of  being  able  to  do  it 
service." 

As  is  well  known,  Franklin  suffered  stone  in  the  bladder 
for  many  years,  which  was  very  painful  during  the  last  few  years 
of  his  life.  It  appears  that  he  first  became  aware  that  he 
had  a  stone  in  1783,  when  he  was  seventy-seven  years  of 
age.  Concerning  the  stone  he  wrote  to  John  Jay : 

"It  is  true,  as  you  have  heard,  that  I  have  the  stone,  but  not 
that  I  had  thoughts  of  being  cut  for  it.  It  is  as  yet  very  tolerable. 
It  gives  me  no  pain  but  when  in  a  carriage  on  the  pavement,  or 
when  I  make  some  sudden  quick  movement.  If  I  can  prevent  its 
growing  larger,  which  I  hope  to  do  by  abstemious  living  and 
gentle  exercise ;  I  can  go  on  pretty  comfortably  with  it  to  the  end 
of  my  journey,  which  can  now  be  at  no  great  distance.  I  am 
cheerful,  enjoy  the  company  of  my  friends,  sleep  well,  have  suffi 
cient  appetite,  and  my  stomach  performs  well  its  functions.  The 
latter  is  very  material  to  the  preservation  of  health.  I  therefore 
take  no  drugs  lest  I  should  disorder  it.  You  may  judge  that  my 
disease  is  not  very  grievous,  since  I  am  more  afraid  of  the 
medicines  than  the  malady." 

Franklin  also  suffered  from  a  cutaneous  affection  of  which  he 
writes  in  several  letters. 

"To-morrow  I  set  out  with  my  friend,  Dr.  Pringle  (Sir  John), 
on  a  journey  to  Pyrmont,  where  he  goes  to  drink  the  waters ; 
but  I  hope  more  for  the  air  and  the  exercise,  having  been  used, 
as  you  know,  to  have  a  journey  once  a  year,  the  want  of  which 
last  year  has,  I  believe,  hurt  me,  so  that,  though  I  was  not  quite 
to  say  sick,  I  was  often  ailing  last  Winter,  and  through  the 
Spring."  He  comments  upon  a  s>Hn  affection  with  which  he  was 


42  FRANKLIN'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  MEDICINE. 

now  troubled,  noting  that  it  appeared  after  eating  freely  of  beef, 
and  sometimes  after  a  long  confinement  of  writing  with  little 
exercise  and  which  he  was  told  was  scorbutic.  In  1773, 
he  placed  himself  under  the  care  of  his  good  friend,  Sir  John 
Pringle,  on  account  of  a  scab  or  scurf  about  the  head.  Sir  John 
ordered  a  mercurial  wash  and  a  physic.  Franklin  states,  "It 
slowly  left  that  place,  but  appeared  in  other  parts  of  my  head." 
The  physician  also  advised  abstinence  from  salt  meat  and  cheese, 
which  advice  Franklin  "didn't  much  follow,  often  forgetting  it." 

He  complained  during  his  attendance  upon  Congress  of  fre 
quent  attacks  of  dizziness.  He  suffered  also  from  a  number  of 
large  boils  about  this  time.  In  17/6,  when  seventy  years  of  age, 
Franklin  wrote  from  Paris  where  he  had  lately  taken  up  his  resi 
dence  : 

"I  lived  chiefly  on  salt  beef,  the  fowls  being  too  hard  for  my 
teeth.  But,  being  poorly  nourished,  I  was  very  weak  at  my 
arrival;  boils  continued  to  vex  me,  and  the  scurf  extending  over 
all  the  small  of  my  back,  on  my  sides,  my  legs,  and  my  arms, 
besides  what  continued  under  my  hair.  I  applied  to  a  physician, 
who  ordered  me  Mr.  Bellosto's  pills  and  an  infusion  of  a  root 

called .  I  took  the  infusion  a  while,  but  it  being  disagreeable, 

and  finding  no  effect,  I  omitted  it.  I  continued  to  take  the  pills, 
but  finding  my  teeth  loosening,  and  that  I  had  lost  three,  I  desisted 
"the  use  of  them.  I  found  that  bathing  stopped  the  progress  of 
the  disorder.  I  therefore  took  the  hot  bath  twice  a  week,  two 
hours  at  a  time,  till  this  last  summer.  It  always  made  me  feel 
comfortable,  as  I  rubbed  off  the  softened  scurf  in  the  warm 
water;  and  I  otherwise  enjoyed  exceeding  good  health.  I  stated 
my  case  to  Dr.  Ingenhousz,  and  desired  him  to  show  it  to  Sir 
J.  P.,  and  obtain  his  advice.  They  sent  me  from  London  some 
medicine,  but  Dr.  Ingenhousz  proposing  to  come  over  soon,  and 
the  affair  not  pressing,  I  resolved  to  omit  the  medicine  till  his 
arrival." 

It  is  interesting  to  note  in  this  account  that  the  loosening  of 
the  teeth  of  which  Franklin  complained,  was  probably  due  to 
salivation.  Dr.  Franklin's  own  efforts,  with  those  of  Dr.  Ingen 
housz  and  Sir  John  Pringle,  to  combat  the  disease  are  all  matters 
of  interest  to  physicians. 

In  1779  Dr.  Franklin  wrote  to  a  friend:  "I  can  give  you  no 
good  account.  I  have  a  long  time  been  afflicted  with  almost 
constant  and  grievous  pain,  to  combat  which  I  have  been  obliged 


FRANKLIN  S    RULES    OF    HEALTH.  43 

to  have  recourse  to  opium,  which  indeed  has  afforded  me  some 
ease  from  time  to  time,  but  then  it  has  taken  away  my  appetite 
and  so  impeded  my  digestion  that  I  am  become  totally  emaciated, 
and  little  remains  of  me  but  a  skeleton  covered  with  a  skin." 

When  an  old  man  and  reflecting  on  his  past  life  and  his  bodily 
ailments,  Franklin  writes:  "One  means  of  becoming  content  with 
one's  situation  is  the  comparing  it  with  a  worse.  Thus,  when  I 
consider  how  many  terrible  diseases  the  human  body  is  liable  to, 
I  comfort  myself  that  only  three  incurable  ones  have  fallen  to 
my  share,  viz. :  the  gout,  the  stone,  and  old  age ;  and  these  have 
not  yet  deprived  me  of  my  natural  cheerfulness,  my  delight  in 
books,  and  my  enjoyment  of  social  conversation." 

When  the  time  arrived  for  him  to  leave  France,  in  1783,  he 
was  so  infirm  by  reason  of  the  gout  and  the  stone  that  it  became  a 
question  as  to  whether  he  could  make  the  voyage.  Marie  An 
toinette  came  to  his  rescue  with  an  offer  of  a  litter,  carried  by 
means  of  large  mules.  It  was  in  this  fashion  that  the  great 
philosopher  made  his  wonderful,  triumphal  march  from  Paris  to 
the  seaboard,  where  he  embarked  for  home. 

After  his  arrival  in  Philadelphia  he  had  to  be  carried  to  the 
State  House  in  a  litter.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Federal  Con 
vention.  All  his  speeches  were  read  by  his  colleague,  Joseph 
Wilson,  as  Franklin  was  unable  to  stand  on  his  feet. 

In  a  letter  to  Dr.  Ingenhousz,  dated  Philadelphia,  October 
24,  1788,  Franklin  writes: 

"You  have  always  been  kind  enough  to  interest  yourself  in 
what  relates  to  my  health.  I  ought  therefore  to  acquaint  you 
with  what  appears  to  me  something  curious  respecting  it.  You 
may  remember  the  cutaneous  malady,  I  formerly  complained  of, 
and  which  you  and  Dr.  Pringle  favored  me  with  prescriptions  and 
advice.  It  vexed  me  near  fourteen  years,  and  was,  the  beginning 
of  this  year,  as  bad  as  ever,  covering  almost  my  whole  body, 
except  my  face  and  hands ;  when  a  fit  of  the  gout  came  on,  without 
very  much  pain,  but  a  swelling  in  both  feet,  which  at  last  appeared 
also  in  both  knees,  and  then  in  my  hands.  As  these  swellings 
increased  and  extended,  the  other  malady  diminished,  and  at 
length  disappeared  entirely.  These  swellings  have  sometimes 
since  begun  to  fall,  and  are  now  almost  gone;  perhaps  the 
cutaneous  disease  may  return,  or  perhaps  it  is  worn  out.  I  may 
hereafter  let  you  know  what  happens.  I  am  on  the  whole  much 
weaker  than  when  it  began  to  leave  me.  But  possibly  that  may 


44  FRANKLIN  S    CONTRIBUTION    TO    MEDICINE. 

be  the  effect  of  age,  for  I  am  now  near  eighty- three,  the  age  of 
commencing  decrepitude." 

Dr.  John  Jones,  his  attending  physician,  has  thus  written 
of  Franklin's  last  illness: 

"The  stone,  with  which  he  had  been  afflicted  for  several  years, 
had  for  the  last  twelve  months  confined  him  chiefly  to  his  bed; 
and  during  the  extremely  painful  paroxysms  he  was  obliged  to 
take  large  doses  of  laudanum  to  mitigate  his  torture ;  still,  in  the 
intervals  of  pain,  he  not  only  amused  himself  with  reading  and 
conversing  cheerfully  with  his  family,  and  a  few  friends  who 
visited  him,  but  was  often  employed  in  doing  business  of  a 
public  as  well  as  private  nature,  with  various  persons  who  waited 
on  him  for  that  purpose ;  and  in  every  instance  displayed  not  only 
that  readiness  and  disposition  of  doing  good  which  was  the 
distinguishing  characteristic  of  his  life,  but  the  fullest  and  clearest 
possession  of  his  uncommon  mental  abilities;  and  not  unfre- 
quently  indulged  himself  in  those  fjeux  d' esprit'  and  entertaining 
anecdotes,  which  were  the  delight  of  all  who  heard  him.  About 
sixteen  days  before  his  death  he  was  seized  with  a  feverish  indis 
position,  without  any  particular  symptoms  attending  it,  till  the 
third  or  fourth  day,  when  he  complained  of  a  pain  in  the  left 
breast,  which  increased  till  it  became  extremely  acute,  attended 
with  a  cough  and  laborious  breathing.  During  this  state  when 
the  severity  of  his  pain  drew  forth  a  groan  of  complaint,  he  would 
observe — that  he  was  afraid  he  did  not  bear  them  as  he  ought — 
acknowledged  his  grateful  sense  of  the  many  blessings  he  had 
received  from  that  Supreme  Being,  who  had  raised  him  from  small 
and  low  beginnings  to  such  high  rank  and  consideration  among 
men — and  made  no  doubt  but  his  afflictions  were  kindly  intended 
to  wean  him  from  a  world  in  which  he  was  no  longer  fit  to  act  the 
part  assigned  him.  In  this  frame  of  body  and  mind  he  continued  till 
five  days  before  his  death,  when  his  pain  and  difficulty  of  breath 
ing  entirely  left  him,  and  his  family  were  flattering  themselves 
with  the  hopes  of  his  recovery,  when  an  imposthumation,  which 
had  formed  itself  in  his  lungs,  suddenly  burst  and  discharged  a 
great  quantity  of  matter,  which  he  continued  to  throw  up  while 
he  had  sufficient  strength  to  do  it ;  but,  as  that  failed,  the  organs 
of  respiration  became  gradually  oppressed — a  calm  lethargic  state 
succeeded — and,  on  the  I7th  of  April,  1790,  about  eleven  o'clock 
at  night,  he  quietly  expired,  closing  a  long  and  useful  life  of 
eighty- four  years  and  three  months." 


SWIMMING   AND    BATHING.  45 

Dr.  Rush  wrote  to  Dr.  Price : 

'The  papers  will  inform  you  of  the  death  of  our  late  friend, 
Dr.  Franklin.  The  evening  of  his  life  was  marked  by  the  same 
activity  of  his  moral  and  intellectual  powers  which  distinguished 
its  meridian.  His  conversation  with  his  family  upon  the  subject 
of  his  dissolution  was  free  and  cheerful.  A  few  days  before  he 
died,  he  rose  from  his  bed  and  begged  that  it  might  be  made  up 
for  him  so  that  he  might  die  in  a  decent  manner.  His  daughter 
told  him  she  hoped  he  would  recover  and  live  many  years  longer. 
He  calmly  replied,  'I  hope  not.'  Upon  being  advised  to  change 
his  position  in  bed,  that  he  might  breathe  easy,  he  said,  'A  dying 
man  can  do  nothing  easy.'  All  orders  and  bodies  of  people  have 
vied  with  each  other  in  paying  tributes  of  respect  to  his  memory." 

FRANKLIN  AS  A  MEDICAL  BOOK  PUBLISHER. 

In  days  when  but  very  few  works  on  medicine  were  written 
in  America,  Franklin  deserves  mention  as  a  medical  book  pub 
lisher  of  note.  Among  the  works  which  he  published  or  reprinted 
are  the  following: 

In  1732  he  reprinted  a  book  originally  published  in  London, 
dealing  with  "The  Horror  of  the  Gout,"  which  set  forth  that  the 
disease  is  "one  of  the  greatest  Blessings  which  can  befall  mortal 
man." 

In  1734  he  published  a  new  edition  of  a  book  written  by  John 
Tennent  entitled,  "Every  man  his  own  Doctor;  or  the  Poor 
Planter's  Physician." 

In  1741  Franklin  printed  the  work  of  his  friend,  Dr.  Cad- 
wallader  Golden,  of  New  York,  entitled  "Essay  on  the  Iliac 
Passion." 

In  1751  he  printed  two  medical  essays,  one  by  Dr.  John  Kears- 
ley  and  the  other,  "Medicina  Britannica,"  by  Dr.  Thomas  Short. 

In  1754  he  wrote  and  printed  a  paper  entitled  "Some  Account 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Hospital — from  its  First  Rise,  the  Beginning 
of  the  Fifth  Month,  called  May,  1754,"  and  which  was  circulated 
for  the  purpose  of  procuring  subscriptions  for  the  hospital. 

SWIMMING  AND  BATHING. 

Referring  to  his  first  visit  to  London  when  he  worked 
there  as  a  young  apprentice,  Franklin  writes: 

"At  Watt's  printing  house  I  contracted  an  acquaintance 
with  an  ingenious  young  man,  one  Wygate,  who,  having 


46 

wealthy  relations,  had  been  better  educated  than  most  print 
ers  ;  was  a  tolerable  Latinist,  spoke  French,  and  loved  reading. 
I  taught  him  and  a  friend  of  his  to  swim  at  twice  going  into 
the  river,  and  they  soon  became  good  swimmers.  They  intro 
duced  me  to  some  gentlemen  from  the  country,  who  went  to 
Chelsea  by  water  to  see  the  College  and  Don  Saltero's  curi 
osities.  In  our  return,  at  the  request  of  the  company,  whose 
curiosity  Wygate  had  excited,  I  stripped  and  leaped  into  the 
river,  and  swam  from  near  Chelsea  to  Blackfriar's,  perform 
ing  on  the  way  many  feats  of  activity,  both  upon  and  under 
the  water,  that  surprised  and  pleased  those  to  whom  they 
were  novelties. 

"I  had  from  a  child  ever  delighted  with  this  exercise,  had 
studied  and  practised  all  Thevenot's  motions  and  positions, 
added  some  of  my  own,  aiming  at  the  graceful  and  easy  as 
well  as  the  useful.  All  these  I  took  this  occasion  of  exhibiting 
to  the  company,  and  was  much  flattered  by  their  admiration  ; 
and  Wygate,  who  was  desirous  of  becoming  a  master,  grew 
more  and  more  attached  to  me  on  that  account,  as  well  as 
from  the  similarity  of  our  studies.  He  at  length  proposed  to 
me  traveling  all  over  Europe  together,  supporting  ourselves 
everywhere  by  working  at  our  business.  I  was  once  inclined 
to  it;  but,  mentioning  it  to  my  good  friend,  Mr.  Denham, 
with  whom  I  often  spent  an  hour  when  I  had  leisure,  he  dis 
suaded  me  from  it,  advising  me  to  think  only  of  returning  to 
Pennsylvania,  which  he  was  now  about  to  do. 

"On  one  of  these  days,  I  was,  to  my  surprise,  sent  for  by 
a  great  man  I  knew  only  by  name,  a  Sir  William  Wyndham, 
and  I  waited  upon  him.  He  had  heard  by  borne  means  or 
other  of  my  swimming  from  Chelsea  to  Blackfriar's,  and  of 
my  teaching  Wygate  and  another  young  man  to  swim  in  a 
few  hours.  He  had  two  sons,  about  to  set  out  on  their  trav 
els  ;  he  wished  to  have  them  taught  swimming,  and  proposed 
to  gratify  me  handsomely  if  I  would  teach  them.  They  were 
not  yet  come  to  town,  and  my  stay  was  uncertain,  so  I  could 
not  undertake  it;  but  from  this  incident  I  thought  it  likely 
that,  if  I  were  to  remain  in  England  and  open  a  swimming 
school,  I  might  get  a  good  deal  of  money;  and  it  struck  me 
so  strongly,  that,  had  the  overture  been  made  sooner,  probably 
I  should  not  so  soon  have  returned  to  America.  After  many 
years,  you  and  I  had  something  of  more  importance  to  do 


SWIMMING   AND    BATHING.  47 

with  one  of  these  sons  of  Sir  William  Wyndham,  become 
Earl  of  Egremont,  which  I  shall  mention  in  its  place." 

In  a  most  interesting  letter  to  Dubourg  written  in  1773, 
Franklin  discusses  swimming,  advocating  it  warmly,  and 
expressing  the  opinion  that  it  has  the  effect  of  "stopping 
diarrhea." 

"The  specific  gravity  of  some  human  bodies,  in  compar 
ison  to  that  of  water,  had  been  examined  by  Mr.  Robinson,  in 
our  Philosophical  Transactions,  Volume  L,  page  30,  for  the 
year  1757.  He  asserts,  that  fat  persons  with  small  bones 
float  most  easily  upon  the  water. 

"The  diving-bell  is  accurately  described  in  our  Transac 
tions.  When  I  was  a  boy,  I  made  two  oval  palettes,  each  about 
ten  inches  long  and  six  broad,  with  a  hole  for  the  thumb,  in 
order  to  retain  it  fast  in  the  palm  of  my  hand.  They  much 
resembled  a  painter's  palette.  In  swimming  I  pushed  the 
edges  of  these  forward,  and  I  struck  the  water  with  their  flat 
surfaces  as  I  drew  them  back.  I  remember  I  swam  faster  by 
means  of  these  palettes,  but  they  fatigued  my  wrists.  I 
also  fitted  to  the  soles  of  my  feet  a  kind  of  sandal ;  but  I  was 
not  satisfied  with  them,  because  I  observed  that  the  stroke  is 
partly  given  by  the  inside  of  the  feet  and  the  ankles,  and  not 
entirely  with  the  soles  of  the  feet. 

"We  have  here  waistcoats  for  swimming,  which  are  made 
of  double  sail-cloth,  with  small  pieces  of  cork  quilted  .in 
between  them. 

"I  know  nothing  of  the  scaphandre  of  M.  de  la  Chapelle. 

"I  know  by  experience  that  it  is  a  great  comfort  to  a 
swimmer,  who  has  a  considerable  distance  to  go,  to  turn  him 
self  sometimes  on  his  back,  and  to  vary  in  other  respects  the 
means  of  procuring  a  progressive  motion. 

"When  he  is  seized  with  the  cramp  in  the  leg,  the  method 
of  driving  it  away  is,  to  give  the  parts  affected  a  sudden,  vig 
orous,  and  violent  shock,  which  he  may  do  in  the  air  as  he 
swims  on  his  back. 

"During  the  great  heats  of  summer  there  is  no  danger  in 
bathing,  however  warm  we  may  be,  in  rivers  which  have 
been  thoroughly  warmed  by  the  sun.  But  to  throw  one's  self 
into  cold  water,  when  the  body  has  been  heated  by  exercise 
in  the  sun,  is  an  imprudence  which  may  prove  fatal.  I  once 
knew  an  instance  of  four  young  men,  who,  having  worked  at 


48 

harvest  in  the  heat  of  the  day,  with  a  view  of  refreshing 
themselves  plunged  into  a  spring  of  cold  water;  two  died 
upon  the  spot,  a  third  in  the  morning,  and  the  fourth  recov 
ered  with  great  difficulty.  A  copious  draught  of  cold  water, 
in  similar  circumstances,  is  frequently  attended  with  the 
same  effect  in  North  America. 

"The  exercise  of  swimming  is  one  of  the  most  healthy  and 
agreeable  in  the  world.  After  having  swam  for  an  hour  or  two 
in  the  evening,  one  sleeps  cooly  the  whole  night,  even  during 
the  most  ardent  heat  of  summer.  Perhaps,  the  pores  being 
cleansed,  the  insensible  perspiration  increases  and  occasions 
this  coolness.  It  is  certain  that  much  swimming  is  the  means 
of  stopping  a  diarrhea,  and  even  of  producing  a  constipation. 
With  respect  to  those  who  do  not  know  how  to  swim  or  who 
are  affected  with  a  diarrhea  at  a  season  which  does  not  permit 
them  to  use  that  exercise,  a  warm  bath,  by  cleansing  and 
purifying  the  skin,  is  found  very  salutary,  and  often  effects  a 
radical  cure.  I  speak  from  my  own  experience,  frequently 
repeated,  and  that  of  others,  to  whom  I  have  recommended 
this." 

In  a  letter  to  Oliver  Neave  which  is  rather  too  long  to 
reproduce,  Franklin  urges  that  it  is  not  too  late  in  life  for  his 
friend  to  learn  to  swim;  and  then,  in  considerable  detail  he 
lays  down  rules  for  beginners  in  the  art  of  swimming  which 
would  be  of  the  greatest  practical  value  were  they,  without 
alteration,  posted  up  in  swimming  schools  to-day. 

Franklin  argues  on  several  occasions  that  in  the  case  of 
scarcity  of  drinking  water  at  sea,  that  the  suffering  from  thirst 
may  be  in  some  measure  relieved  by  immersing  the  body  in  water 
for  some  considerable  period.  In  a  letter  to  a  young  lady,  1769, 
he  remarks: 

"I  take  this  Opportunity  to  send  you,  also,  a  late  Paper, 
containing  a  melancholy  Account  of  the  Distresses  of  some  Sea 
men.  You  will  observe  in  it  the  Advantages  they  receiv'd  from 
wearing  their  Clothes  constantly  wet  with  salt  Water,  under  the 
total  Want  of  fresh  Water  to  drink.  You  may  remember  I 
recommended  this  Practice  many  years  ago." 

THE   VALUE   OF   FRESH    AIR   AND   PROPER   VENTILATION. 

The  Nature  and  Contagiousness  of  "Colds." 
Franklin  was  deeply  impressed  with  the  value  of  fresh  air, 
at  a  time  when  it  was  far  too  much  excluded  from  dwelling 


FRESH    AIR    AND    VENTILATION.  49 

houses,  hospitals,  and  other  pubic  buildings.  He  thought  upon 
and  investigated  the  subject  much  and  wrote  upon  it  repeatedly. 
He  devised  and  described  the  "Pennsylvania  fire-place"  which 
was  intended  to  heat  a  room  equally  and  secure  an  even 
temperature  in  it.  Lord  Kaimes,  addressing  him  as  a  "uni 
versal  smoke  doctor,"  asked  his  advice  as  to  the  ventilation 
of  his  new  house  in  Edinburgh.  He  was  consulted  as  to  the 
best  methods  of  ventilation  for  the  House  of  Commons ;  and 
several  medical  friends  asked  for  suggestions  for  the  ven 
tilation  of  hospitals.  Franklin  often  twitted  his  doctor  friends 
on  their  fear  of  fresh  air,  or  their  tardy  recognition  of  its 
value.  The  present  open  air  treatment  of  tuberculosis  patients 
may  be  fairly  said  to  be  nothing  more  than  a  concrete  applica 
tion  of  the  principles  for  which  Franklin  stood.  Franklin 
would  not  allow  that  fresh  air  was  bad  even  when  damp. 
Parton  remarks : 

'"'He  was  among  the  first  who  called  attention  to  the  cruel 
folly  of  excluding  fresh  air  from  hospitals  and  sick  rooms,  par 
ticularly  those  of  fever  patients.  Unquestionably  he  was  the 
originator  of  the  modern  art  of  ventilation.  He  cleared  the  pure 
air  of  heaven  from  calumnious  imputation,  and  threw  open  the 
windows  to  mankind." 

In  his  investigations  of  the  value  of  fresh  air,  Franklin  gave 
much  consideration  to  the  subject  of  "colds,"  "catching  colds," 
etc.,  and  as  will  be  presently  seen,  he  set  forth  plainly  and  fully 
the  modern  theory  of  "colds"  and  the  conditions  under  which 
they  are  contagious ;  and  not  until  one  hundred  and  fifty  years 
later  did  these  views  of  Franklin  become  those  of  the  medical 
profession.  They  are  now  accepted  everywhere. 

Franklin's  investigations  in  the  subject  of  ventilation  natu 
rally  led  him  to  the  careful  consideration  of  and  experiments 
upon  chimneys.  Smyth  remarks  : 

"Before  the  time  of  Franklin's  invention,  smoky  chimneys 
were  among  the  commonest  annoyances  of  domestic  life.  A 
smoky  house  is  mentioned  by  Shakespeare  in  the  category  of 
tedious  things  with  a  tired  horse  and  a  railing  wife.  'How  may 
a  smoky  chimney  be  best  cured?'  was  one  of  Franklin's  queries 
for  the  Junto.  'It  is  strange  methinks,'  he  remarked,  'that  though 
chimneys  have  been  for  so  long  in  use,  the  construction  should 
be  so  little  understood,  till  lately,  that  no  workman  pretended  to 
make  one  which  should  always  carry  off  all  smoke/  " 


5O  FRANKLIN  S    CONTRIBUTION    TO    MEDICINE. 

The  result  of  Franklin's  studies  was  the  invention  of  the 
"Pensylvania  fire-place,"  in  1742.  Upon  this  subject  he  wrote  a 
remarkable  essay  containing  as  it  does  many  observations  on 
physics,  hygiene,  ventilation,  and  public  health.  Several  passages 
germane  to  this  study  will  bear  quoting. 

While  recognizing  the  improvement  which  had  been  made  in 
the  construction  of  chimneys  by  which  the  smoke  had  been 
eliminated,  he  observed  that  they  are  still  quite  objectionable 
because  of  the  strong  drafts  at  every  crevice ;  and  he  goes  on  to 
say: 

"Many  colds  are  caught  from  this  cause  only;  it  being  safer 
to  sit  in  the  open  street,  for  then  the  Pores  do  all  close  together, 
and  the  Air  does  not  strike  so  sharply  against  any  particular 
Part.  The  Spaniards  have  a  Proverbial  Saying, 

"  'If  the  Wind  blows  on  you  thro'  a  Hole, 
Make  your  Will,  and  take  care  of  your  Soul/ 

Women  particularly  from  this  Cause,  (as  they  sit  much  in  the 
House)  get  Colds  in  the  Head,  Rheums,  and  Defluctions,  which 
fall  into  their  Jaws  and  Gums,  and  have  destroyed  early  many  a 
fine  set  of  teeth  in  these  Northern  Colonies.  Great  and  bright 
Fires  do  also  very  much  contribute  to  damage  the  Eyes,  dry  and 
shrivel  the  Skin,  and  bring  on  early  Appearances  of  Old-Age. 
In  short,  many  of  the  Diseases  proceeding  from  Colds,  as 
Fevers,  Pleurisies,  etc.,  fatal  to  very  great  Numbers  of  people, 
may  be  ascribed  to  strongdrawing  Chimneys,  whereby,  in  severe 
Weather,  a  man  is  scorched  before,  while  he's  froze  behind." 

Continuing  his  argument  for  the  advantages  of  the  Penn 
sylvania  fire-place  devised  by  him,  he  makes  the  following 
observations :  "That  warm  rooms  make  people  tender  and  apt 
to  catch  cold,  is  a  mistake  as  great  as  it  is  (among  the  English) 
general.  We  have  seen  in  the  preceding  Pages  how  the  common 
Rooms  are  apt  to  give  Colds;  but  the  writer  of  this  Paper  may 
affirm,  from  his  own  Experience,  and  that  of  his  Family  and 
Friends  who  have  used  warm  Rooms,  people  are  rendered  less 
liable  to  take  Cold,  and  indeed,  actually  hardened.  If  sitting 
warm  in  a  Room  made  One  subject  to  take  cold  on  going  out, 
lying  warm  in  Bed  should,  by  a  Parity  of  Reason,  produce  the 
same  effect  when  we  rise.  Yet  we  find  we  can  leap  out  of  the 
warmest  Bed  naked  in  the  coldest  morning,  without  any  Danger ; 
and  in  the  same  Manner  out  of  warm  Clothes  into  a  cold  bed. 
The  Reason  is,  that  in  these  Cases  the  Pores  all  close  at  once,  the 


FRESH    AIR    AND    VENTILATION.  51 

Cold  is  shut  out,  and  the  Heat  within  augmented,  as  we  soon 
after  feel  by  the  glowing  of  the  flesh  and  skin.  Thus  no  one 
was  ever  known  to  catch  Cold  by  the  use  of  the  cold  Bath :  And 
are  not  cold  Baths  allowed  to  harden  the  Bodies  of  those  that 
use  them?  Are  they  not  therefore  frequently  prescribed  to  the 
tenderest  Constitutions?  Now,  every  Time  you  go  out  of  a 
warm  Room  into  a  Cold  Bath,  and  the  effect  is  in  proportion  the 
same;  for  (tho'  perhaps  you  may  feel  somewhat  chilly  at  first) 
you  find  in  a  little  Time  your  Bodies  hardened  and  strengthened, 
your  Blood  is  driven  with  a  brisker  Circulation,  and  a  Com 
fortable,  steady,  uniform  inward  Warmth  succeeds  that  equal 
outward  Warmth  you  first  received  in  the  room.  Farther  to 
confirm  this  Assertion,  we  instance  the  Swedes,  the  Danes,  the 
Russians;  these  Nations  are  said  to  live  in  Rooms,  compared  to 
ours,  as  hot  as  ovens;  yet  where  are  the  hardy  Soldiers,  tho' 
bred  in  their  boasted  cool  Houses,  that  can,  like  these  People, 
bear  the  Fatigues  of  a  Winter  Campaign  in  so  severe  a  Climate, 
march  whole  Days  to  the  Neck  in  snow,  and  at  Night  entrench 
in  Ice,  as  they  do?"  He  sums  up  the  advantages  of  the  Penn 
sylvania  fire-place  under  fifteen  heads,  of  which  the  following 
are  quoted : 

"If  you  sit  near  the  Fire,  you  have  not  that  cold  draft  of 
uncomfortable  Air  nipping  your  Back  and  Heels,  as  when  before 
common  Fires,  by  which  many  catch  Cold,  being  scorcht  before, 
and  as  it  were,  froze  behind. 

"If  you  sit  against  a  Crevice,  there  is  not  that  sharp  Draught 
of  cold  Air  playing  on  you,  as  in  Rooms  where  there  are  Fires 
in  the  common  way ;  by  which  many  catch  cold  whence  proceed 
Coughs,  Catarrhs,  Tooth-aches,  Fevers,  Pleurisies,  and  many 
other  Diseases. 

"In  Case  of  Sickness,  they  make  most  excellent  Nursing- 
rooms;  as  they  constantly  supply  a  sufficiency  of  fresh  air,  so 
warmed  at  the  same  time  as  to  be  no  way  inconvenient  or  dan 
gerous.  A  small  One  does  well  in  a  Chamber ;  and,  the  Chimney 
being  fitted  for  it,  it  may  be  removed  from  one  room  to  another, 
as  Occasion  requires,  and  fixed  in  half  an  Hour.  The  equal  tem 
per,  too,  and  Warmth,  of  the  Air  of  the  Room,  is  thought  to  be 
particularly  advantageous  in  some  Distempers:  For  'twas  ob 
served  in  the  Winters  of  1730  and  1736,  when  the  small-pox 
spread  in  Pennsylvania,  that  very  few  of  the  Children  of  the 
Germans  died  of  that  Distemper  in  proportion  to  those  of  the 
English;  which  was  ascribed  by  some  to  the  warmth  and  equal 


52  FRANKLIN'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  MEDICINE. 

Temper  of  Air  in  their  Stove-Rooms;  which  made  the  Disease 
as  favorable  as  it  commonly  is  in  the  West  Indies.  But  this 
Conjecture  we  submit  to  the  judgment  of  Physicians." 

Writing  on  "The  Causes  and  Cures  of  Smoky  Chimneys," 
Franklin  discusses,  in  some  detail,  the  subject  of  ventilation, 
dampness,  fresh  air,  colds,  etc.  "Some  are  as  much  afraid  of 
fresh  Air  as  persons  in  the  Hydrophobia  are  of  fresh  water.  I 
myself  had  formerly  this  prejudice,  this  Aerophobia,  as  I  now 
account  it ;  and,  dreading  the  supposed  dangerous  Effects  of  cool 
Air,  I  considered  it  as  an  Enemy,  and  closed  with  extreme  care 
every  Crevice  in  the  Rooms  I  inhabited. 

"Experience  has  convinced  me  of  my  Error.  I  now  look 
upon  fresh  Air  as  a  friend ;  I  even  sleep  with  an  open  Window. 
I  am  persuaded,  that  no  common  Air  from  without  is  so  unwhole 
some,  as  the  Air  within  a  close  Room,  that  has  been  often 
breath'd  and  not  changed.  Moist  Air,  too,  which  formerly  I 
thought  pernicious,  gives  me  no  Apprehensions;  for  considering 
that  no  Dampness  of  Air  apply'd  to  the  Outside  of  my  Skin  can 
equal  to  what  is  apply'd  to  and  touches  it  within,  my  whole  Body 
being  full  of  Moisture,  and  finding  that  I  can  lie  two  hours  in  a 
Bath  twice  a  Week,  covered  with  Water,  which  certainly  is 
much  damper  than  any  Air  can  be,  and  this  for  Years  together, 
without  catching  Cold,  or  being  in  any  other  manner  disordered 
by  it,  I  no  longer  dread  mere  Moisture,  either  in  Air  or  in 
Sheets  or  Shirts :  And  I  find  it  of  no  Importance  to  the  Happi 
ness  of  Life,  the  being  freed  from  vain  Terrors,  especially  of 
objects  that  we  are  every  day  exposed  inevitably  to  meet  with. 
You  Physicians  have  of  late  happily  discovered,  after  a  contrary 
Opinion  had  prevail'd  some  Ages,  that  fresh  and  cool  Air  does 
good  to  Persons  in  the  Small-Pox  and  other  Fevers.  It  is  to 
be  hoped  that  in  another  Century  or  two  we  may  all  find  out,  that 
it  is  not  bad  even  for  People  in  Health.  And  as  to  Moist  Air, 
here  I  am  at  this  present  Writing  in  a  Ship  with  above  40  Per 
sons,  who  have  had  no  other  but  moist  Air  to  breathe  for  6 
Weeks  past;  every  thing  we  touch  is  damp,  and  nothing  dries, 
yet  we  are  all  as  healthy  as  we  should  be  on  the  mountains  of 
Switzerland,  whose  Inhabitants  are  not  more  than  those  of  Ber 
muda  or  St.  Helena  Islands.  Islands  on  whose  Rocks  the 
Waves  are  dashed  into  Millions  of  Particles  which  fill  the  Air 
with  Damp,  but  produce  no  Distemper,  the  Moisture  being  pure, 
unmixed  with  the  poisonous  Vapours  arising  from  Marshes  and 


FRESH    AIR   AND    VENTILATION.  53 

stagnant  Pools,  in  which  many  Insects  die  and  corrupt  the 
Water.  These  Places  only,  in  my  Opinion  (which  however  I 
submit  to  yours),  afford  unwholesome  Air;  and  that  it  is  not 
the  mere  Water  contained  in  Damp  Air,  but  the  volatile  Parti 
cles  of  corrupted  animal  Matter  mixed  with  that  Water,  which 
renders  such  Air  Pernicious  to  those  who  breathe  it.  And  I 
imagine  it  a  Cause  of  the  same  kind  that  renders  the  Air  in  close 
Rooms,  where  the  perspirable  Matter  is  breathed  over  and  over 
again  by  a  number  of  assembled  People,  so  hurtful  to  Health. 
After  being  in  such  a  Situation,  many  find  themselves  affected 
by  that  Febricula,  which  the  English  alone  call  a  Cold,  and  per 
haps  from  the  Name,  imagine  that  they  caught  the  malady  by 
going  out  of  the  Room,  when  it  was  in  fact  by  being  in  it." 

Franklin's  study  of  the  subject  of  ventilation  led  him  to  make 
a  number  of  interesting  experiments,  one  of  which  is  thus  noted 
by  Dr.  Small,  an  English  surgeon: 

"The  doctor  confirmed  this  by  this  following  experiment :  He 
breathed  gently  through  a  tube  into  a  deep  glass  mug,  so  as  to 
impregnate  all  the  air  in  the  mug  with  this  quality.  He  then  put 
a  lighted  bougie  into  the  mug,  and  upon  touching  the  air  therein 
the  flame  was  instantly  extinguished;  by  frequently  repeating 
the  operation,  the  bougie  gradually  preserved  its  light  longer  in 
the  mug,  so  as  in  a  short  time  to  retain  it  to  the  bottom  of  it,  the 
air  having  totally  lost  the  bad  quality  it  had  contracted  from  the 
breath  blown  into  it." 

As  has  been  remarked  before,  Franklin  was  on  terms  of  inti 
mate  friendship  with  Joseph  Priestley  and  they  exchanged  many 
letters  and  held  many  conferences  together.  Priestley  performed 
some  very  interesting  experiments,  causing  plants  to  grow  in  air 
which  had  become  vitiated  from  human  expiration.  In  a  letter 
to  Franklin,  Priestley  informs  him  of  the  very  flourishing  state 
of  plants  growing  in  this  vitiated  atmosphere.  Replying  to  this 
letter  Franklin  writes : 

"That  the  vegetable  creation  should  restore  the  air  which  is 
spoiled  by  the  animal  part  of  it,  looks  like  a  rational  system  and 
seems  to  be  a  piece  with  the  rest.  Thus  fire  purifies  water  all 
the  world  over.  It  purifies  it  by  distillation  when  it  raises  it  in 
vapors  and  lets  it  fall  in  rain ;  and  further  still  by  filtration  when, 
keeping  it  fluid,  it  suffers  that  rain  to  percolate  the  earth.  We 
knew  before  that  putrid  animal  substances  were  converted  into 
sweet  vegetables  when  mixed  with  the  earth  and  applied  as 


54  FRANKLIN'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  MEDICINE. 

manure ;  and  now  it  seems  that  the  same  putrid  substances,  mixed 
with  the  air,  have  a  similar  effect.  The  strong  thriving  state  of 
your  mint,  in  the  putrid  air,  seems  to  show  that  the  air  is  mended 
by  taking  something  from  it  and  not  by  adding  to  it.  I  hope  this 
will  give  some  check  to  the  rage  of  destroying  trees  that  grow 
near  houses,  which  has  accompanied  our  late  improvements  in 
gardening,  from  an  opinion  of  their  being  unwholesome.  I  am 
certain,  from  long  observation,  that  there  is  nothing  unhealthy 
in  the  air  of  the  woods,  and  no  people  on  earth  enjoy  better 
health  or  are  more  prolific." 

Writing  from  London  on  July  28,  1768,  to  Dr.  Dubourg, 
Franklin  describes  what  he  calls  a  fresh  air  bath. 

"I  greatly  approve  the  epithet  which  you  give,  in  your  letter 
of  the  8th  of  June,  to  the  method  of  treating  the  small-pox, 
which  you  call  the  tonic  or  bracing  method ;  I  will  take  occasion 
from  it  to  mention  a  practice  to  which  I  have  accustomed  myself. 
You  know  the  cold  bath  has  long  been  in  vogue  here  as  a  tonic; 
but  the  shock  of  the  cold  water  has  always  appeared  to  me. 
generally  speaking,  as  too  violent,  and  I  have  found  it  much 
more  agreeable  to  my  constitution  to  bathe  in  another  element, 
I  mean  cold  air.  With  this  view  I  rise  almost  every  morning 
and  sit  in  my  chamber  without  any  clothes  whatever,  half  an 
hour  or  an  hour,  according  to  the  season,  either  reading  or  writ 
ing.  This  practice  is  not  in  the  least  painful  but,  on  the  contrary, 
agreeable;  and  if  I  return  to  bed  afterwards  before  I  dress 
myself,  as  sometimes  happens,  I  make  a  supplement  to  my  night's 
rest  of  one  or  two  hours  of  the  most  pleasing  sleep  that  can  be 
imagined.  I  find  no  ill  consequences  whatever  resulting  from  it 
and  that  at  least  it  does  not  injure  my  health,  if  it  does  not  in 
fact  contribute  much  to  its  preservation.  I  shall  therefore  call 
it  for  the  future  a  bracing  or  tonic  bath." 

In  a  letter  to  Dr.  Hawkesworth,  dated  London,  May  8,  1772, 
Franklin  writes  of  Prisetley's  experiments  with  Fix'd  Air : 

"Dr.  Priestley  discovered  that  two-fourths  of  the  air,  one 
produced  by  suffering  dead  mice  to  putrefy  under  glass,  the 
other  by  the  effervescence  of  chalk  and  water  with  a  small  quan 
tity  of  acid  or  vitriol,  in  either  of  which  living  mice  being  put 
would  instantly  die,  yet  the  two  being  mixed  both  become  good 
common  air,  and  mice  breathe  in  it  freely.  From  his  own  and 
Dr.  McBride's  Experiments  (who  thought  Fix'd  Air  would  pre 
vent  or  cure  the  sea  scurvy)  he  was  persuaded  it  might  be  of  use 


FRESH    AIR    AND    VENTILATION.  55 

in  mortification.  But  of  this  there  has  been  only  a  single  experi 
ment.  A  Physician  of  his  acquaintance  at  Leeds  wrote  to  him 
while  he  was  lately  in  town  that  a  person  dying  as  was  thought 
of  a  putrid  fever  with  all  the  symptoms  of  a  mortification  in  the 
bowels  had  been  suddenly  relieved  and  recovered  by  the  injection 
of  Fix'd  Air  as  a  clyster.  These  are  all  our  present  premises 
upon  which  you  can  judge  as  well  as  I  how  far  one  may  expect 
the  same  Fix'd  Air  will  be  of  service  to  a  cancer,  but,  as  you 
ask  my  opinion,  as  the  case  might  be  desperate  and  we  know  of 
no  danger  in  the  trial,  I  should  be  for  trying  it.  I  would  first 
syringe  the  sore  strongly  with  warm  water  impregnated  with 
Fix'd  Air  so  as  to  cleanse  well  the  part.  Then  I  would  apply 
to  it  a  succession  of  glasses  filled  with  Fix'd  Air,  each  glass  to 
remain  till  the  sore  had  absorbed  the  Fix'd  Air  contained  in  it. 
It  would  require  a  long  description  to  explain  the  readiest 
methods  of  obtaining  the  air,  applying  it,  and  impregnating  the 
water  with  it,  and  perhaps  I  would  not  make  myself  clearly 
understood." 

In  a  letter  to  Jean  Baptiste  Le  Roy,  dated  June  22,  1773, 
Franklin  writes  of  his  favorite  subject,  fresh  air,  as  follows: 

"I  am  pleased  to  hear  you  are  engaged  in  the  Consideration  of 
Hospitals.  I  wish  any  Observations  of  mine  could  be  of  Use  to 
you,  they  should  be  at  your  Service.  But  'tis  a  Subject  I  am 
very  little  acquainted  with.  I  can  only  say,  that,  if  a  free  & 
copious  Perspiration  is  of  Use  in  Diseases,  that  seems,  from  the 
Experiments  I  mentioned  to  M.  Dubourg,  to  be  best  obtained 
by  light  covering  &  fresh  Air  continually  changing :  The  Moist 
ure  on  the  Skin  when  the  Body  is  warmly  covered,  being  a 
Deception  and  the  Effect  not  of  greater  Transpiration,  but  of 
the  Saturation  of  the  Air  included  under  the  &  in  the  Bed 
clothes,  which  therefore  can  absorb  no  more,  and  so  leaves  it 
on  the  Body.  From  those  Experiments  I  am  convinced  of  what 
I  indeed  before  suspected,  that  the  Opinion  of  Perspiration 
being  checked  by  Cold  is  an  error,  as  well  as  that  of  Rheum 
being  occasioned  by  Cold.  But  as  this  is  Heresy  here,  and  per 
haps  may  be  so  with  you,  I  only  whisper  it,  and  expect  you  will 
keep  my  Secret.  Our  Physicians  have  begun  to  discover  that 
fresh  Air  is  good  for  People  in  the  Small- Pox  and  other  Fevers, 
I  hope  they  will  find  out  that  it  does  no  harm  to  People  in 
Health." 

Two  weeks  later,  writing  to  his  old  friend,  Dubourg,  he  says : 


56  FRANKLIN'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  MEDICINE. 

"I  have  not  time  now  to  write  what  I  intend  upon  the  Cause 
of  Colds,  or  Rheums,  and  my  Opinions  on  that  Head  are  so 
singular  here,  that  I  am  almost  afraid  to  hazard  them  abroad. 
In  the  meantime,  be  so  kind  as  to  tell  me  at  your  leisure, 
whether  in  France  you  have  a  general  Belief  that  moist  Air, 
and  damp  Shirts 'or  Sheets,  and  wet  Floors  and  Beds  that  have 
not  lately  been  used,  and  Clothes  that  have  not  lately  been  worn, 
and  going  out  of  a  warm  Room  into  the  Air,  and  leaving  off  a 
long-worn  waistcoat,  and  wearing  leaky  Shoes,  and  sitting  near 
an  open  Window,  or  Door,  or  in  a  Coach  with  both  Glasses 
down,  are  all  or  any  of  them  capable  of  giving  the  Distemper 
we  call  a  Cold,  and  you  a  Rheum  or  Catarrh?  Or  are  these 
merely  English  ideas?" 

In  another  letter  to  Dr.  Dubourg,  Franklin  offers  some 
observations  on  the  subject  of  perspiration,  damp  clothes,  etc. 

"I  shall  not  attempt  to  explain  why  damp  clothes  occasion 
colds,  rather  than  wet  ones,  because  I  doubt  the  fact ;  I  imagine 
that  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  contribute  to  this  effect,  and 
that  the  cause  of  colds  are  totally  independent  of  wet  and  even 
cold.  I  propose  writing  a  short  paper  on  this  subject  the  first 
moment  of  leisure  I  have  at  my  disposal.  In  the  mean  time,  I 
can  only  say  that,  having  some  suspicions  that  the  common  notion, 
which  attributes  to  colds  the  property  of  stopping  the  pores  and 
obstructing  perspiration,  was  ill  founded,  I  engaged  a  young 
physician,  who  is  making  some  experiments  with  Sanctorius's 
balance,  to  estimate  the  different  proportions  of  his  perspiration, 
when  remaining  one  hour  naked,  and  another  warmly  clothed. 
He  pursued  the  experiment  in  this  alternate  manner  for  eight 
hours  successively  and  found  his  perspiration  almost  doubled 
during  those  hours  in  which  he  was  naked." 

Franklin's  view  of  "colds"  and  their  contagiousness  and  the 
advantage  of  fresh  air  are  perhaps  best  set  forth  in  a  letter  to 
Dr.  Benjamin  Rush,  which  he  wrote  from  London  June  14,  1773. 

"I  shall  communicate  your  judicious  remark,  relating  to  the 
septic  quality  of  the  air  transpired  by  patients  in  putrid  diseases, 
to  my  friend,  Dr.  Priestley.  I  hope  that  after  having  discovered 
the  benefit  of  fresh  and  cool  air  applied  to  the  sick,  people  will 
begin  to  suspect  that  possibly  it  may  do  no  harm  to  the  well.  I 
have  not  seen  Dr.  Cullen's  book,  but  am  glad  to  hear  that  he 
speaks  of  catarrhs  or  colds  by  contagion.  I  have  long  been 
satisfied  from  observation,  that  besides  the  general  colds  now 


FRESH    AIR    AND    VENTILATION.  57 

termed  influenza  (which  may  possibly  spread  by  contagion,  as 
well  as  by  a  particular  quality  of  the  air),  people  often  catch 
cold  from  one  another  when  shut  up  together  in  close  rooms, 
coaches,  &c.,  and  when  sitting  near  and  conversing  so  as  to 
breathe  in  each  other's  transpiration;  the  disorder  being  in  a 
certain  state.  I  think  too,  that  it  is  the  frouzy,  corrupt  air  from 
animal  substances,  and  the  perspired  matter  from  our  bodies, 
which  being  long  confined  in  beds  not  lately  used,  and  clothes 
not  lately  worn,  and  books  long  shut  up  in  close  rooms, 
obtains  that  kind  of  putridity,  which  occasions  the  colds 
observed  upon  sleeping  in,  wearing,  and  turning  over  such 
bedclothes,  or  books,  and  not  their  coldness  or  dampness. 
From  these  causes,  but  more  from  too  full  living,  with  too 
little  exercise,  proceed  in  my  opinion  most  of  the  disorders, 
which  for  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  past  the  English  have 
called  colds. 

"As  to  Dr.  Cullen's  cold  or  catarrh  a  frigore,  I  question 
whether  such  an  one  ever  existed.  Traveling  in  our  severe 
winters,  I  have  suffered  cold  sometimes  to  an  extremity  only 
short  of  freezing,  but  this  did  not  make  me  catch  cold.  And, 
for  moisture,  I  have  been  in  the  river  two  or  three  hours  for 
a  fortnight  together,  when  one  would  suppose  I  might  imbibe 
enough  of  it  to  take  cold  if  humidity  could  give  it;  but  no 
such  effect  ever  followed.  Boys  never  get  cold  by  swimming. 
Nor  are  people  at  sea,  or  who  live  at  Bermuda  or  St.  Helena, 
small  islands  where  the  air  must  be  moist  from  the  dashing 
and  breaking  of  waves  against  their  rocks  on  all  sides,  more 
subject  to  colds  than  those  who  inhabit  part  of  a  continent 
where  the  air  is  driest.  Dampness  may  indeed  assist  in  pro 
ducing  putridity  and  those  miasmata  which  infect  us  with 
the  disorder  we  call  a  cold;  but  of  itself  can  never  by  a  little 
addition  of  moisture  hurt  a  body  filled  with  watery  fluids 
from  head  to  foot." 

Writing  to  Thomas  Percival,  London,  September  25,  1773, 
Franklin  argues  that  "moist  seasons"  are  healthiest,  and  again 
clearly  sets  forth  his  ideas  as  to  the  contagiousness  of  colds. 

"  'Tis  a  curious  Remark  that  moist  Seasons  are  the  healthi 
est.  The  Gentry  of  England  are  remarkably  afraid  of  Moist 
ure,  and  of  Air.  But  Seamen,  who  live  in  perpetually  moist 
Air,  are  always  Healthy,  if  they  have  good  Provisions.  The 
Inhabitants  of  Bermuda,  St.  Helena,  and  other  Islands  far 


58  FRANKLIN'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  MEDICINE. 

from  Continents,  surrounded  with  Rocks  against  which  the 
Waves  continually  dashing  fill  the  Air  with  Spray  &  Vapour, 
and  where  no  Wind  can  arrive  that  does  not  pass  over  much 
Sea,  and  of  course  bring  much  Moisture,  these  People  are 
remarkably  healthy.  And  I  have  long  thought  that  mere 
moist  Air  has  no  ill  effect  on  the  Constitution ;  tho'  Air  impreg 
nated  with  Vapour  from  putrid  Marshes  is  found  pernicious, 
not  from  the  Moisture,  but  the  Putridity.  It  seems  strange 
that  a  Man  whose  Body  is  composed  in  great  Part  of  Moist 
Fluids,  whose  Blood  and  Juices  are  so  watery,  who  can  swal 
low  Quantities  of  Water  and  Small  Beer  daily  without  Incon 
venience,  should  fancy  that  a  little  more  or  less  Moisture  in 
the  Air  should  be  of  such  Importance.  But  we  abound  in 
Absurdity  and  Inconsistency. 

"Thus  tho7  it  is  generally  allowed  that  taking  the  Air  is 
a  good  Thing,  yet  what  Caution  against  Air,  what  stopping  of 
Crevices,  what  wrapping  up  in  warm  Clothes,  what  shutting 
of  Doors  and  Windows  !  even  in  the  midst  of  Summer !  Many 
London  Families  go  out  once  a  day  to  take  the  Air;  three  or 
four  Persons  in  a  Coach,  one  perhaps  sick;  these  go  three  or 
four  Miles,  or  as  many  Turns  in  Hide  Park,  with  the  Glasses 
both  up  close,  all  breathing  over  &  over  again  the  same  Air 
they  brought  out  of  town  with  them  in  the  Coach  with  the 
least  change  possible,  and  rendered  worse  and  worse  every 
moment.  And  this  they  call  taking  the  Air.  From  many 
Year's  Observations  on  myself  and  others,  I  am  persuaded 
we  are  on  a  wrong  scent  in  supposing  Moist  or  cold  Air,  the 
Cause  of  that  Disorder  we  call  a  Cold.  Some  unknown  Qual 
ity  in  the  Air  may  perhaps  produce  colds,  as  in  the  influenza ; 
but  generally  I  apprehend  they  are  the  effect  of  too  full  Liv 
ing  in  proportion  to  our  Exercise." 

Franklin's  views  on  fresh  air  brought  him  on  one  occasion 
in  active  conflict  with  John  Adams  when  the  two  were  com 
pelled  to  bunk  together,  in  1776.  Adams,  in  his  autobiography 
says : 

"At  Brunswick,  but  one  bed  could  be  procured  for  Dr. 
Franklin  and  me,  in  a  chamber  little  larger  than  the  bed,  with 
out  a  chimney,  and  with  only  one  small  window.  The  window 
was  open,  and  I  who  was  an  invalid  and  afraid  of  the  air  of 
night,  shut  it  close.  'Oh !'  says  Franklin,  'don't  shut  the  win 
dow,  we  shall  be  suffocated/  I  answered  I  was  afraid  of 


ANATOMY    AND    PHYSIOLOGY.  59 

the  evening  air.  Dr.  Franklin  replied,  'The  air  within  this 
chamber  will  soon  be,  and  indeed  is  now,  worse  than  that 
without  doors.  Come,  open  the  window  and  come  to  bed, 
and  I  will  convince  you.  I  believe  you  are  not  acquainted 
with  my  theory  of  colds?1  Opening  the  window,  and  leaping 
into  bed,  I  said  I  had  read  his  letters  to  Dr.  Cooper,  in  which 
he  had  advanced,  that  nobody  ever  got  cold  by  going  into  a 
cold  church  or  any  other  cold  air,  but  the  theory  was  so 
little  consistent  with  my  experience,  that  I  thought  it  a  para 
dox.  However,  I4iad  so  much  curiosity  to  hear  his  reasons 
that  I  would  run  the  risk  of  a  cold.  The  Dr.  then  began  a 
harangue  upon  air  and  cold,  and  respiration  and  perspiration, 
with  which  I  was  so  much  amused  that  I  soon  fell  asleep, 
and  left  him  and  his  philosophy  together,  but  I  believe  they 
were  equally  sound  and  insensible  within  a  few  minutes  after 
me,  for  the  last  words  I  heard  were  pronounced  as  he  was 
more  than  half  asleep.  I  remember  little  of  the  lecture,  except 
that  the  human  body,  by  respiration  and  perspiration,  destroy 
a  gallon  of  air  in  a  minute ;  that  two  such  persons  as  were 
now  in  that  chamber,  would  consume  all  the  air  in  it  in  an 
hour  or  two;  that  by  breathing  over  again  the  matter  thrown 
off  by  the  lungs  and  the  skin,  we  should  imbibe  the  real  cause 
of  colds,  not  from  abroad,  but  from  within." 

ANATOMY  AND  PHYSIOLOGY. 

In  two  letters  to  his  friend,  Dr.  Cadwallader  Colden,  writ 
ten  in  1745,  Franklin  discusses  the  subject  of  absorption,  per 
spiration,  and  circulation,  at  considerable  length  and  after 
a  most  interesting  fashion. 

"I  am  extremely  pleased  with  your  doctrine  of  the  absorb 
ent  vessels  intermixed  with  the  perspiratory  ducts,  both  on 
the  external  and  internal  superficies  of  the  body.  After  I  had 
read  Sanctorius,  I  imagined  a  constant  stream  of  the  perspir 
able  matter  issuing  at  every  pore  in  the  skin.  But  then  I  was 
puzzled  to  account  for  the  effects  of  mercurial  unctions  for 
the  strangury,  sometimes  occasioned  by  an  outward  applica 
tion  of  the  flies,  and  the  like ;  since  whatever  virtue  or  quality 
might  be  in  a  medicine  laid  upon  the  skin,  if  it  would  enter 
the  body,  it  must  go  against  wind  and  tide,  as  one  may  say. 
Dr.  Hales  helped  me  a  little,  when  he  informed  me,  in  his 
Vegetable  Statics,  that  the  body  is  not  always  in  a  perspirable, 


60  FRANKLIN'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  MEDICINE. 

but  sometimes  in  an  imbibing  state,  as  he  expresses  it,  and 
will  at  times  actually  grow  heavier  by  being  exposed  to  moist 
air.  But  this  did  not  quite  remove  my  difficulty;  since,  as 
these  fits  of  imbibing  did  not  appear  to  be  regular  or  frequent, 
a  blistering  plaster  might  lie  on  the  body  a  week,  or  a  mercu 
rial  ungent  be  used  a  month,  to  no  purpose,  if  the  body  should 
so  long  continue  in  a  perspirable  state.  Your  doctrine,  which 
was  quite  new  to  me  makes  all  easy:  since  the  body  may 
perspire,  and  absorb  at  the  same  time,  through  the  different 
ducts  destined  to  those  different  ends. 

"I  must  own,  however,  that  I  have  one  objection  to  the 
explanation  you  give  of  the  operation  of  these  absorbents. 
That  they  should  communicate  with  the  veins,  and  the  per- 
spirants  with  the  arteries  only,  seems  natural  enough;  but, 
as  all  fluids  by  the  hydrostatical  law  pass  equally  in  all  direc 
tions,  I  question  whether  the  mere  direction  of  one  of  those 
minute  vessels,  where  it  joins  with  the  vein  or  artery,  with 
or  against  the  stream  of  blood  in  the  larger  vessel,  would  be 
sufficient  to  produce  such  contrary  effects  as  perspiring  and 
absorbing.  If  it  would,  perspirants  and  absorbents  might 
proceed  from  the  arteries  only,  or  from  the  veins  only,  or 


FIG  i. 

from  both  indifferently;  as,  by  the  figure  in  the  margin  (Fig. 
i)  whether  the  vessel  a  b  is  an  artery  or  a  vein,  if  the  stream 
moves  from  a  to  b,  the  minute  communicating  vessel  c  shall 
be  a  perspirant,  and  d  an  absorbent ;  and  the  contrary,  if  it 
moves  from  b  to  a.  Yet  I  can  not  say  I  am  certain  the  mere 
direction  of  the  vessel  will  have  no  effect ;  I  only  suspect  it, 
and  am  making  a  little  machine  to  try  an  experiment  with 
for  satisfaction. 

"It  is  a  siphon  made  of  two  large  joints  of  Carolina  cane 
united  at  e,  into  which  two  small  glass  tubes,  f  and  g,  are  to 
be  inserted,  one  on  the  descending,  and  the  other  on  the 
ascending  side.  (See  Fig.  2.)  I  propose  to  fill  the  siphon 
and  the  two  glass  tubes  with  water,  and,  when  it  is  playing, 
unstop  at  the  same  instant  the  tops  of  both  glass  tubes, 


ANATOMY    AND    PHYSIOLOGY. 


6l 


observing  in  which  the  water  sinks  fastest.  You  shall  know 
the  success.  I  conceive  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere  on 
the  apertures  of  the  two  glass  tubes  to  be  no  way  different 
from  the  pressure  of  the  same  on  the  mouths  of  the  perspir- 
ants  and  absorbents,  and  if  the  water  sinks  equally  in  the 
tubes,  notwithstanding  the  direction  of  one  against  the  other 
with  the  stream,  I  shall  be  ready  to  think  we  must  look  out 
for  another  solution.  You  will  say,  perhaps,  that  it  will  then 
be  time  enough  when  the  experiment  is  tried,  and  succeeds 
as  I  suspect,  yet  I  can  not  forbear  attempting  at  one  before 
hand,  while  some  thoughts  are  present  in  my  mind.  If  a  new 
solution  should  be  found  necessary,  this  may  be  ready  for 
consideration. 


FIG.  2. 

"I  do  not  remember,  that  any  antagonist,  that  has  fallen 
in  my  way,  has  assigned  any  other  cause  of  the  motion  of  the 
blood  through  its  whole  circle,  than  the  contractile  force  of 
the  heart,  by  which  that  fluid  is  driven  with  violence  into 
the  arteries,  and  so  continually  propelled  by  repetitions  of 
the  same  force,  till  it  arrives  at  the  heart  again.  May  we  for 
our  present  purpose  suppose  another  cause  producing  half 
the  effect,  and  say  that  the  ventricles  of  the  heart,  like 
syringes,  draw,  when  they  dilate,  as  well  as  force  when  they 
contract?  That  this  is  not  unlikely,  may  be  judged  from  the 
valves  nature  has  placed  in  the  arteries,  to  prevent  the  draw 
ing  back  of  the  blood  in  those  vessels  when  the  heart  dilates, 
while  no  such  obstacles  prevent  its  sucking  (to  use  the  vulgar 
expression)  from  the  veins.  If  this  be  allowed,  and  the  inser 
tion  of  the  absorbents  into  the  veins  and  of  the  perspirants 
into  the  arteries  be  agreed  to,  it  will  be  of  no  importance  in 
what  direction  they  are  inserted.  For,  as  the  branches  of 
the  arteries  are  continually  lessening  in  their  diameters,  and 
the  motion  of  the  blood  decreasing  by  means  of  the  increased 


62  FRANKLIN'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  MEDICINE. 

resistance,  there  must,  as  more  is  constantly  pressed  on 
behind,  arise  a  kind  of  crowding  in  the  extremities  of  those 
vessels,  which  will  naturally  force  out  what  is  contained  in 
the  perspirants  that  communicate  with  them.  This  lessens 
the  quality  of  blood,  so  that  the  heart  can  not  receive  again 
by  the  veins  all  it  had  discharged  into  the  arteries,  which 
occasions  it  to  draw  strongly  upon  the  absorbents  that  com 
municate  with  them.  And  thus  the  body  is  continually  per 
spiring  and  imbibing.  Hence  after  long  fasting  the  body  is 
more  liable  to  receive  infection  from  bad  air,  and  food,  before 
it  is  sufficiently  chylified,  is  drawn  crude  into  the  blood  by 
absorbents  that  open  into  the  bowels. 

"To  confirm  this  position,  that  the  heart  draws,  as  well 
as  drives  the  blood,  let  me  add  this  particular.  If  you  sit  or 
lean  long,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  compress  the  principle 
artery  that  supplies  a  limb  with  blood,  so  that  it  does  not 
furnish  a  due  quantity,  you  will  be  sensible  of  a  pricking  pain 
in  the  extremities  like  that  of  a  thousand  needles;  and  the 
veins,  which  used  to  raise  your  skin  in  ridges,  will  be  (with 
the  skin)  sunk  into  channels ;  the  blood  being  drawn  out  of 
them,  and  their  sides  pressed  so  closely  together  that  it  is 
with  difficulty  and  slowly  that  the  blood  afterwards  enters 
them,  when  the  compressed  artery  is  relieved.  If  the  blood 
was  not  drawn  by  the  heart,  the  compression  of  an  artery 
would  not  empty  a  vein,  and  I  conjecture  that  the  pricking 
pain  is  occasioned  by  the  sides  of  the  small  vessels  being 
pressed  together. 

"If  there  is  no  contrivance  in  the  frame  of  the  auricles  or 
ventricles  of  the  heart,  by  which  they  dilate  themselves,  I 
can  not  conceive  how  they  are  dilated.  It  is  said,  by  the  force 
of  the  venal  blood  rushing  into  them.  But  if  that  blood  has 
no  force  which  was  not  first  given  to  it  by  the  contraction 
of  the  heart,  how  can  it  (diminished  as  it  must  be  by  the 
resisting  friction  of  the  vessels  it  has  passed  through)  be 
strong  enough  to  overcome  that  contraction?  Your  doctrine 
of  fermentation  in  the  capillaries  helps  me  a  little;  for  if  the 
returning  blood  be  rarefied  by  the  fermentation,  its  motion 
must  be  increased ;  but  as  it  seems  to  me  that  it  must  by  its 
expansion  resist  the  arterial  blood  behind  it,  as  much  as  it 
accelerates  the  venal  blood  before  it,  I  am  still  somewhat 
unsatisfied.  I  have  heard  or  read  somewhere,  too,  that  the 


ANATOMY    AND    PHYSIOLOGY.  63 

hearts  of  some  animals  continue  to  contract  and  dilate,  or 
to  beat,  as  it  is  commonly  expressed,  after  they  are  separated 
from  the  other  vessels,  and  taken  out  of  the  body.  If  this  be 
true,  their  dilation  is  not  caused  by  the  force  of  the  returning 
blood. 

"I  should  be  glad  to  satisfy  myself,  too,  whether  the  blood 
is  always  quicker  in  motion,  when  the  pulse  beats  quicker. 
Perhaps  more  blood  is  driven  forward  by  one  strong,  deep 
stroke,  than  by  two  that  are  weak  and  light;  as  a  man  may 
breathe  more  by  one  long  common  respiration,  when  in  health, 
than  by  two  quick,  short  ones  in  a  fever.  I  applied  the  siphon 
I  mentioned  to  you  in  a  former  letter  to  a  pipe  of  a  water- 
engine.  E  is  the  engine ;  a,  its  pipe,  bbb,  the  siphon ;  c  and  d, 
the  two  glass  pipes  communicating  with  the  siphon  (Fig.  3). 


FIG.   3. 

Upon  working  the  engine,  the  water  flowed  through  the 
siphon,  and  the  glass  tube  c ;  but  none  was  discharged  through 
d.  When  I  stopped  with  my  finger  the  end  of  the  siphon,  the 
water  issued  at  both  glass  tubes,  with  equal  force,  and  on 
only  half  stopping  the  end  of  the  siphon,  it  did  the  same. 
I  imagine  the  sudden  bending  of  the  siphon  gives  such  a 
resistance  to  the  stream,  as  to  occasion  its  issuing  out  of  the 
glass  tube  c.  But  I  intend  to  try  a  further  experiment,  of 
which  I  shall  give  you  an  account." 

In  another  piece,  of  unknown  date,  under  the  title  of  "A 
Conjecture  As  To  The  Cause  Of  The  Heat  Of  The  Blood  In 
Health,  And  Of  The  Cold  And  Hot  Fits  Of  Some  Fevers," 
Franklin  continues  his  discussion  of  the  subject  of  anatomy 
and  physiology: 


64  FRANKLIN'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  MEDICINE. 

"The  parts  of  fluids  are  so  smooth,  and  roll  among  one 
another  with  so  little  friction,  that  they  will  not  by  any 
(mechanical)  agitation  grow  warmer.  A  phial  half  full  of 
water  shook  with  violence  and  long  continued,  the  water 
neither  heats  itself  nor  warms  the  phial.  Therefore  the  blood 
does  not  acquire  its  heat  either  from  the  motion  and  friction 
of  its  own  parts,  or  its  friction  against  the  sides  of  its  vessels. 

"But  the  parts  of  solids,  by  reason  of  their  closer  adhesions 
can  not  move  among  themselves  without  friction,  and  that 
produces  heat.  Thus,  bend  a  plummet  to  and  fro,  and,  in  the 
place  of  bending,  it  shall  soon  grow  hot.  Friction  on  any  part 
of  our  flesh  heats  it.  Clapping  of  the  hands  warms  them. 
Exercise  warms  the  whole  body. 

"The  heart  is  a  thick  muscle,  continually  contracting  and 
dilating  near  eighty  times  a  minute.  By  this  motion  there 
must  be  a  constant  interfriction  of  its  constituent  solid  parts. 
That  friction  must  produce  a  heat,  and  that  heat  must  conse 
quently  be  continually  communicated  to  the  perfluent  blood. 

"To  this  may  be  added,  that  every  propulsion  of  the  blood 
by  the  contraction  of  the  heart,  distends  the  arteries,  which 
contract  again  in  the  intermission  and  this  distension  and  con 
traction  of  the  arteries  may  occasion  heat  in  them,  which  they 
likewise  communicate  to  the  blood  that  flows  through  them. 

"That  these  causes  of  the  heat  of  the  blood  are  sufficient 
to  produce  the  effect,  may  appear  probable,  if  we  consider  that 
a  fluid  once  warm  requires  no  more  heat  to  be  applied  to  it 
in  any  part  of  time  to  keep  it  warm,  than  what  it  shall  lose  in 
an  equal  part  of  time.  A  smaller  force  will  keep  a  pendulum 
going,  than  what  first  set  it  in  motion. 

"The  blood,  thus  warmed  in  the  heart,  carries  warmth 
with  it  to  the  very  extremities  of  the  body,  and  communicates 
it  to  them;  but  as  by  this  means  its  heat  is  gradually  dimin 
ished,  it  is  returned  again  to  the  heart  by  the  veins  for  a  fresh 
calefaction. 

"The  blood  communicates  its  heat,  not  only  to  the  solids 
of  our  body,  but  to  our  clothes,  and  to  a  portion  of  the  cir 
cumambient  air.  Every  breath,  though  drawn  in  cold,  is  ex 
pired  warm ;  and  every  particle  of  the  materia  perspirabilis  car 
ries  off  with  it  a  portion  of  heat. 

"While  the  blood  retains  a  due  fluidity,  it  passes  freely 
through  the  minutest  vessels,  and  communicates  a  proper 


ANATOMY    AND    PHYSIOLOGY.  65 

warmth  to  the  extremities  of  the  body.  But  when  by  any 
means  it  becomes  viscid,  as  not  to  be  capable  of  passing  those 
minute  vessels,  the  extremities,  as  the  blood  can  bring  no  more 
heat  to  them,  grow  cold. 

"The  same  viscidity  in  the  blood  and  juices  checks  or  stops 
the  perspiration,  by  clogging  the  perspiratory  ducts,  or,  per 
haps,  by  not  admitting  the  perspirable  parts  to  separate. 
Paper  wet  with  size  and  water  will  not  dry  so  soon  as  if  wet 
with  water  only. 

"A  vessel  of  hot  water,  if  the  vapor  can  freely  pass  from 
it,  soon  cools.  If  there  be  just  fire  enough  under  it  to  add 
continually  the  heat  it  loses,  it  retains  the  same  degree.  If 
the  vessel  be  closed  so  that  the  heat  may  be  retained,  there 
will  from  the  same  fire  be  a  continual  accession  of  heat  to  the 
water,  till  it  rises  to  a  great  degree.  Or,  if  no:  fire  be  under 
it,  it  will  retain  the  heat  it  first  had  for  a  long  time.  I  have 
experienced,  that  a  bottle  of  hot  water  stopped,  and  put  in  my 
bed  at  night,  has  retained  so  much  heat  seven  or  eight  hours, 
that  I  could  not  in  the  morning  bear  my  foot  against  it,  with 
out  some  of  the  bedclothes  intervening. 

"During  the  cold  fit,  then,  perspiration  being  stopped,  a  great 
part  of  the  heat  of  the  blood,  that  used  to  be  dissipated,  is  con 
fined  and  retained  in  the  body;  the  heart  continues  its  motion, 
and  creates  a  constant  accession  to  that  heat ;  the  inward  parts 
grow  very  hot,  and,  by  contact  with  the  extremities,  communi 
cate  that  heat  to  them.  The  glue  of  the  blood  is  by  this  heat 
dissolved,  and  the  blood  afterwards  flows  freely,  as  before 
the  disorder." 

On  one  occasion  he  wrote  to  his  friend,  Dr.  Ingenhouz: 
"To  inquisitive  minds  like  yours  and  mine  the  reflection  that 
the  quantity  of  human  knowledge  bears  no  proportion  to  the 
quantity  of  human  ignorance  must  be  in  one  view  rather  pleas 
ing,  vis.,  that  though  we  are  to  live  forever  we  may  be  continu 
ally  amused  'and  delighted  with  learning  something  new." 
He  discussed  with  Dubourg  the  queston  of  life  and  death. 
He  related  to  his  friend  that  on  one  occasion  he  had  received 
a  bottle  of  Madeira  from  America ;  and  that  upon  opening  it 
three  flies  fell  into  the  first  glass  that  was  filled.  He  goes  on 
to  say:  "Having  heard  it  remarked  that  drowned  flies  were 
capable  of  being  revived  by  the  rays  of  the  sun,  I  proposed 
making  an  experiment  upon  these;  they  were  therefore  ex- 


66  FRANKLIN'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  MEDICINE. 

posed  to  the  sun  upon  a  sieve  which  had  been  employed  to 
strain  them  out  of  the  wine.  In  less  than  three  hours  two  of 
them  began  by  degrees  to  recover  life.  They  commenced  by 
some  convulsive  motions  of  the  thighs,  and  at  length  they 
raised  themselves  upon  their  legs,  wiped  their  eyes  with  their 
forefeet,  beat  and  brushed  their  wings  with  their  hind  feet, 
and  soon  after  began  to  fly,  finding  themselves  in  Old  England, 
without  knowing  how  they  came  thither.  The  third  continued 
lifeless  till  sunset,  when,  losing  all  hopes  of  him,  he  was 
thrown  away. 

"I  wish  it  were  possible,  from  this  instance,  to  invent  a 
method  of  embalming  drowned  persons,  in  such  a  manner  that 
they  may  be  recalled  to  life  at  any  period,  however  distant; 
for  having  a  very  ardent  desire  to  see  and  observe  the  state  of 
America  a  hundred  years  hence,  I  should  prefer  to  any  ordi 
nary  death,  the  being  immersed  in  a  cask  of  Maderia  wine, 
with  a  few  friends,  till  that  time,  to  be  then  recalled  to  life 
by  the  solar  warmth  of  my  dear  country." 

Commenting  on  the  above  Smyth  remarked:  "Had  his 
eyes  opened  after  a  century's  slumber,  upon  what  a  world 
would  their  calm  gaze  have  rested !  The  vast  images  that  he 
saw  in  glimmering  dawn  become  now  the  commonplaces  of 
school  boys.  His  daring  prophecies  of  the  possibilities  of 
electricity  more  than  fulfilled.  A  great  and  proud  people, 
justifying  his  unfaltering  faith  in  popular  instincts  and  insti 
tutions,  holding  in  grateful  and  perpetual  memory  his  lifelong 
labours  and  sacrifices !" 

BI-FOCAL    SPECTACLES. 

For  the  invention  of  the  bi-focal  glass  we  are  indebted  to 
Franklin.  When  Dollond,  the  celebrated  optician,  learned  of 
Franklin's  invention,  he  supposed  that  the  device  would  be 
suitable  only  for  particular  eyes.  Writing  to  Whatley  on  this 
subject  Franklin  observes: 

"By  Mr.  Dollond's  saying  that  my  double  spectacles  can 
only  serve  particular  eyes,  I  doubt  he  has  not  been  rightly 
informed  of  their  construction.  I  imagine  it  will  be  found 
pretty  generally  true,  that  the  same  convexity  of  glass  through 
which  a  man  sees  clearest  and  best  at  the  distance  proper 
for  reading  is  not  the  best  for  greater  distances.  I  therefore  had 
formerly  two  pair  of  spectacles  which  I  shifted  occasionally,  as  in 


A    FLEXIBLE    CATHETER.  / 

travelling  I  sometimes  read,  and  often  wanted  to  regard  the 
prospects.  Finding  this  change  troublesome,  and  not  always 
sufficiently  ready,  I  had  the  glasses  cut  and  half  of  each  kind 
associated  in  the  same  circle.  By  this  means  as  I  wear  my 
spectacles  constantly,  I  have  only  to  move  my  eyes  up  or  down, 
as  I  want  to  see  distinctly  far  or  near,  the  proper  glass  being 
always  ready.  This  I  find  more  particularly  convenient  since 
my  being  in  France,  the  glasses  that  serve  me  best  at  table  to  see 
what  I  eat,  not  being  the  best  to  see  the  faces  of  those  on  the 
other  side  of  the  table  who  speak  to  me;  and  when  one's  ears 
are  not  well  accustomed  to  the  sounds  of  a  language,  a  sight  of 
the  movements  in  the  features  of  him  that  speaks  helps  to 
explain;  so  that  I  understand  French  better  by  the  help  of  my 
spectacles." 

A  FLEXIBLE  CATHETER. 

The  following  letter,  by  Franklin,  in  the  possession  of  Dr. 
F.  N.  Otis,  of  New  York,  on  the  subject  of  flexible  catheters,  is 
of  peculiar  interest  for  the  physician  : 

"DEAR  BROTHER  :  Reflecting  yesterday  on  your  desire  to  have 
a  flexible  catheter,  a  thought  struck  into  my  mind,  how  one  might 
probably  be  made ;  and  lest  you  should  not  readily  conceive  it  by 
any  description  of  mine,  I  went  immediately  to  the  silver-smith's 
and  gave  directions  for  making  one  (sitting  by  till  it  was  finished) 
that  it  might  be  ready  for  this  post.  But  now  it  is  done  I  have 
some  apprehensions  that  it  may  be  too  large  to  be  easy;  if  so  a 
silver-smith  can  easily  make  it  less  by  twisting  or  turning  it  on  a 
smaller  wire,  and  putting  a  smaller  pipe  to  the  end,  if  the  pipe  is 
really  necessary.  This  machine  may  either  be  covered  with  small 
fine  gut,  first  cleaned  and  soaked  a  night  in  a  solution  of  alum 
and  salt  and  water,  then  rubbed  dry,  which  will  preserve  it  longer 
from  putrefaction ;  then  wet  again  and  drawn  on  and  tied  to  the 
pipes  at  each  end,  where  little  hollows  are  made  for  the  thread 
to  bind  in  and  the  surface  greased.  Or  perhaps  it  may  be  used 
without  the  gut,  having  only  a  little  tallow  rubbed  over  it,  to 
smooth  it  and  fill  the  joints.  I  think  it  is  as  flexible  as  would  be 
expected  in  a  thing  of  the  kind,  and  I  imagine  will  readily  comply 
with  the  turns  of  the  passage,  yet  has  stiffness  enough  to  be 
protruded;  if  not,  the  enclosed  wire  may  be  used  to  stiffen  the 
hinder  part  of  the  pipe  while  the  fore  part  is  pushed  forward, 
and  as  it  proceeds  the  wire  may  be  gradually  withdrawn.  The 
tube  is  of  such  a  nature,  that  when  you  have  occasion  to  with- 


68  FRANKLIN'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  MEDICINE. 

draw  it  its  diameter  will  lessen,  whereby  it  will  move  more  easily. 
It  is  a  kind  of  screw  and  may  be  both  withdrawn  and  introduced 
by  turning.  Experience  is  necessary  for  the  right  using  of  all 
new  tools  or  instruments,  and  that  will  perhaps  suggest  some 
improvement  to  this  instrument  as  well  as  better  direct  the 
manner  of  using  it." 

POKE-WEED  IN  THE  TREATMENT  OF  CANCER. 

To  Dr.  Cadwallader  Golden,  Franklin  wrote  on  April  23, 
1752: 

"I  am  heartily  glad  to  hear  more  instances  of  the  success  of 
the  Poke-weed,  in  the  Cure  of  that  horrible  Evil  to  the  human 
Body,  a  Cancer.  You  will  deserve  highly  of  Mankind  for  the 
Communication.  But  I  find  in  Boston  they  are  at  a  loss  to  know 
the  right  Plant,  some  asserting  it  is  what  they  call  mechoacan, 
others  other  Things.  In  one  of  their  late  Papers  it  is  publickly 
requested,  that  a  perfect  Description  may  be  given  of  the  Plant, 
its  Places  of  Growth,  etc.  I  have  mislaid  the  Paper,  or  would 
send  it  to  you.  I  tho't  you  had  described  it  pretty  fully.  With 
great  Respect  and  Esteem,  etc.  g  FRANKLIN/' 

In  a  letter  to  Dr.  Dubourg,  dated  March  27,  1773,  Franklin 
writes : 

"I  apprehend  that  our  poke-weed  is  what  botanists  term 
phytolacca.  This  plant  bears  berries  as  large  as  peas;  the  skin 
is  black,  but  it  contains  a  crimson  juice.  It  is  this  juice,  thickened 
by  evaporation  in  the  sun,  which  was  employed.  It  caused  great 
pain,  but  some  persons  were  said  to  have  been  cured.  I  am  not 
quite  certain  of  the  facts;  all  that  I  know  is,  that  Dr.  Golden 
had  a  good  opinion  of  the  remedy." 

STATIC  ELECTRICITY  AS  A  REMEDY   FOR  THE  RELIEF  OF   PARALYSIS. 

Franklin  wrote  a  most  interesting  letter  to  his  old  friend,  Sir 
John  Pringle,  on  this  subject,  from  which  the  physician  may 
draw  several  important  lessons: 

"SiR — In  compliance  with  your  request,  I  send  you  the  fol 
lowing  account  of  what  I  can  recollect  relating  to  the  effects  of 
electricity  in  paralytic  cases,  which  have  fallen  under  my 
observation. 

"Some  years  since,  when  the  newspapers  made  mention  of 
great  cures  performed  in  Italy  and  Germany,  by  means  of  elec 
tricity,  a  number  of  paralytics  were  brought  to  me  from  differ- 


ELECTRICITY    FOR    RELIEF    OF    PARALYSIS.  69 

ent  parts  of  Pennsylvania,  and  the  neighboring  provinces,  to  be 
electrised,  which  I  did  for  them  at  their  request.  My  method 
was,  to  place  the  patient  first  in  a  chair,  on  an  electric  stool,  and 
draw  a  number  of  strong  sparks  from  all  parts  of  the  affected 
limb  or  side.  Then  I  fully  charged  two  six  gallon  glass  jars, 
each  of  which  had  about  three  square  feet  of  surface  coated; 
and  I  sent  the  united  shock  of  these  through  the  affected  limb 
or  limbs,  repeating  the  stroke  commonly  three  times  each  day. 
The  first  thing  observed,  was  an  immediate  greater  sensible 
warmth  in  the  lame  limbs  that  had  received  the  stroke,  than  in 
the  others;  and  the  next  morning  the  patients  usually  related 
that  they  had  in  the  night  felt  a  pricking  sensation  in  the  flesh 
of  the  paralytic  limbs;  and  would  sometimes  shew  a  number  of 
small  red  spots,  which  they  supposed  were  occasioned  by  those 
prickings.  The  limbs,  too,  were  found  more  capable  of  volun 
tary  motion  and  seemed  to  receive  strength.  A  man,  for  instance, 
who  could  not  the  first  day  lift  the  lame  hand  from  off  his  knee, 
would  the  next  day  raise  it  four  or  five  inches,  the  third  day 
higher;  and  on  the  fifth  day  was  able,  but  with  a  feeble  languid 
motion,  to  take  off  his  hat.  These  appearance  gave  great  spirits 
to  the  patients,  and  made  them  hope  a  perfect  cure;  but  I  do 
not  remember  that  I  ever  saw  any  amendment  after  the  fifth 
day;  which  the  patients  perceiving,  and  finding  the  shock  pretty 
severe,  they  became  discouraged,  went  home,  and  in  a  short 
time  relapsed;  so  that  I  never  knew  any  advantage  from  elec 
tricity  in  palsies  that  was  permanent.  And  how  far  the  apparent 
temporary  advantage  might  arise  from  the  exercise  in  the 
patient's  journey,  and  coming  daily  to  my  house,  or  from  the 
spirits  given  by  the  hope  of  success,  enabling  them  to  exert 
more  strength  in  moving  their  limbs,  I  will  not  pretend  to  say. 

"Perhaps  some  permanent  advantage  might  have  been 
obtained,  if  the  electric  shocks  had  been  accompanied  with 
proper  medicine  and  regimen,  under  the  direction  of  a  skillful 
physician.  It  may  be,  too,  that  a  few  great  strokes,  as  given 
in  my  method,  may  not  be  so  proper  as  many  small  ones ;  since, 
by  the  account  from  Scotland  of  a  case,  in  which  two  hundred 
shocks  from  a  phial  were  given  daily,  it  seems  that  a  permanent 
cure  has  been  made.  As  to  any  uncommon  strength  supposed 
to  be  in  the  machine  used  in  that  case,  I  imagine  it  could  have 
no  share  in  the  effect  produced;  since  the  strength  of  the  shock 
from  charged  glass  is  in  proportion  to  the  quantity  of  surface 


7O  FRANKLIN'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  MEDICINE. 

of  glass  coated;  so  that  my  shocks  from  those  large  jars  must 
have  been  much  greater  than  any  that  could  be  received  from  a 
phial  held  in  the  hand.  I  am,  with  great  respect,  Sir, 

"Your  most  obedient  servant, 

"B.  FRANKLIN/' 

How  many  physicians  of  the  present  day  employing  a  new 
or  novel  remedy  observe  the  caution  shown  by  Franklin  in  this 
letter?  The  "spirit  given  by  the  hope  of  success"  if  recognized 
by  physicians  as  well  as  it  was  by  Franklin  would  save  us  from 
many  therapeutic  follies.  The  calm,  judicious  manner  in  which 
Franklin  gives  his  account  of  these  electric  experiments  might 
well  serve  as  an  admirable  pattern  for  the  medical  essayist  of 
to-day. 

INOCULATION  AGAINST  SMALL-POX. 

Franklin  took  a  very  deep  and  personal  interest  in  the  subject 
of  inoculation  against  small-pox.  In  his  autobiography  he  wrote: 
"In  1736  I  lost  one  of  my  sons,  a  fine  boy  of  four  years  old,  by 
the  small-pox,  taken  in  the  common  way.  I  long  regretted 
bitterly,  and  still  regret  that  I  had  not  given  it  to  him  by  inocu 
lation.  This  I  mention  for  the  sake  of  parents  who  omit  that 
operation,  on  the  supposition  that  they  should  never  forgive 
themselves  if  a  child  died  under  it;  my  example  showing  that 
the  regret  may  be  the  same  either  way,  and  that,  therefore,  the 
safer  should  be  chosen." 

Soon  after  the  death  of  his  child  Franklin  caused  to  be 
printed  in  the  Pennsylvania  Gazette  the  following  notice: 

"Understanding  'tis  a  current  report,  that  my  son  Francis, 
who  died  lately  of  the  small-pox,  had  it  by  inoculation;  and 
being  desired  to  satisfy  the  publick  in  that  particular;  inasmuch 
as  some  people  are,  by  that  report  (join'd  with  others  of  like 
kind,  and  perhaps  equally  groundless)  deter'd  from  having  that 
operation  performed  on  their  children,  I  do  hereby  sincerely 
declare,  that  he  was  not  inoculated,  but  receiv'd  the  distemper 
in  the  common  way  of  infection;  and  I  suppose  the  report 
could  only  arise  from  its  being  my  known  opinion,  that  inocula 
tion  was  a  safe  and  beneficial  practice;  and  from  my  having 
said  among  my  acquaintance,  that  I  intended  to  have  my  child 
inoculated,  as  soon  as  he  should  have  recovered  sufficient 
strength  from  a  flux  with  which  he  had  been  long  afflicted. 

B.  FRANKLIN." 


INOCULATION    AGAINST    SMALL-POX.  71 

Many  years  later,  while  ambassador  at  the  court  of  France, 
in  a  pathetic  chord  he  wrote  to  Franklin  Bache  from  Passy 
of  the  small-pox,  to  which  four  school  children  had  succumbed, 
remarking:  "How  happy  it  is  for  you  that  your  Parents  took 
care  to  have  you  inoculated  when  you  were  an  infant." 

In  a  letter  written  to  John  Perkins  in  1752,  Franklin  argues 
strongly  for  the  efficacy  of  inoculation,  quoting  the  favorable 
experience  of  American  physicians  with  the  method.  Concluding 
his  letter,  he  says:  "I  have  a  French  piece  printed  at  Paris, 
1724,  entitled,  Observations  sur  la  Saignee  du  pied,  et  sur  la 
Purgation,  um  commencement  de  la  Petite  Verole,  et  Poisons  de 
double  contrc  I'  Inoculation.  A  letter  of  the  doctor's  is  men 
tioned  in  it.  If  he  or  you  have  it  not,  and  desire  to  see  it,  I  will 
send  it.  Please  to  favor  me  with  the  particulars  of  your  purg 
ing  method,  to  prevent  the  secondary  fever." 

In  this  place  we  must  consider  Franklin's  interest  in  the  sub 
ject  of  inoculation  against  small-pox  somewhat  at  length. 

It  is  to  Lady  Mary  Montague  that  we  owe  the  introduction 
of  the  practice  of  inoculation  against  small-pox  into  Europe.  In 
a  letter  dated,  Adrianople,  April  i,  1717,  O.S.,  she  wrote:  "The 
Small-pox  so  fatal  and  general  amongst  us  is  here  entirely  harm 
less  by  the  invention  of  ingrafting,  which  is  the  term  they  give  it. 
There  is  a  set  of  old  women  who  make  it  their  business  to  per 
form  the  operation  every  autumn  when  the  heat  is  abated.  People 
send  to  one  another  to  know  if  any  of  their  family  has  a  mind 
to  have  the  small-pox;  they  make  parties  for  the  purpose;  and 
when  they  are  met  (commonly  fifteen  or  sixteen  together),  the 
old  woman  comes  with  a  nut  shell  of  the  matter  of  the  best  small 
pox." 

Soon  after  writing  this  letter  Lady  Mary's  three-year-old  son 
was  inoculated  by  Mr.  Maitland,  surgeon  to  the  British  Ambas 
sador  (her  husband)  at  the  Ottoman  court. 

Lady  Mary  with  her  husband  and  children  returned  to  Eng 
land  in  1718;  and  in  1721  her  little  daughter,  who  had  been  born 
in  Turkey,  was  inoculated  in  London  by  Mr.  Maitland.  This 
was  the  first  inoculation  made  in  Europe  outside  of  Turkey. 

The  scholarly  clergyman,  Cotton  Mather,  through  the  Trans 
actions  of  the  Royal  Society,  learned  of  the  theory  and  practice 
of  inoculation  and  became  greatly  interested  in  it;  and  at  his 
instigation  285  persons  were  inoculated  in  Boston  in  1721,  by 
Dr.  Zabdiel  Boylston.  Only  one  of  those  inoculated  died.  But 


72  FRANKLIN'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  MEDICINE. 

inoculation  raised  a  great  deal  of  opposition,  which  was  for  a 
time  so  violent  that  Dr.  Boylston  and  Cotton  Mather  were  both 
in  danger  of  their  lives.  To  the  shame  of  our  profession,  it 
must  be  recorded  that  Dr.  Boylston  was  opposed  not  only  by  the 
laity,  but  by  every  other  physician  in  Boston.  At  the  time,  Ben 
jamin  Franklin  was  an  apprentice  boy  in  Boston,  working  for 
his  brother  James. 

This  opposition  to  the  practice  of  inoculation  which  developed 
on  its  introduction,  continued  throughout  several  succeeding 
decades. 

In  1759  a  joint  pamphlet  was  published  by  Benjamin  Franklin 
and  Dr.  William  Heberden,  of  London,  the  object  of  which  was 
to  diffuse  in  the  colonies  a  correct  understanding  of  inoculation 
and  its  advantages.  Dr.  Heberden's  part  of  the  pamphlet  con 
sisted  in,  "Plain  instructions  for  inoculation  in  the  small-pox,  by 
whicn  any  person  may  be  enabled  to  perform  the  operation,  and 
conduct  the  patient  through  the  distemper."  The  pamphlet  was 
entitled : 

"Some  account  of  the  success  of  inoculation  for  the  small-pox 
in  England  and  America.  Together  with  plain  instructions,  by 
which  any  person  may  be  enabled  to  perform  the  operation,  and 
conduct  the  patient  through  the  distemper." 

Franklin's  contribution  to  this  joint  production  was  as  fol 
lows: 

"London,  Feb.  16,  1759. 

"Having  been  desired  by  my  greatly  esteemed  friend,  Dr. 
William  Heberden,  F.R.S.,  one  of  the  principal  physicians  of 
this  city,  to  communicate  what  account  I  had  of  the  success  of 
Inoculation  in  Boston,  New  England,  I  some  time  since  wrote 
and  sent  to  him  the  following  paper,  vis.: 

"About  1753  or  1754,  the  small-pox  made  its  appearance  in 
Boston,  New  England.  It  had  not  spread  in  the  town  for  many 
years  before,  so  that  there  were  a  great  number  of  the  inhabitants 
to  have  it.  At  first,  endeavours  were  used  to  prevent  its  spread 
ing,  by  removing  the  sick,  or  guarding  the  houses  in  which  they 
were;  and  with  the  same  view  Inoculation  was  forbidden;  but 
when  it  was  found  that  these  endeavors  were  fruitless,  the  dis 
temper  breaking  out  in  different  quarters  of  the  town,  and 
increasing,  Inoculation  was  then  permitted. 

"Upon  this,  all  that  inclined  to  Inoculation  for  themselves  or 
families  hurried  into  it  precipitately,  fearing  the  infection  might 


INOCULATION    AGAINST    SMALL-POX.  73 

otherwise  be  taken  in  the  common  way;  the  number  inoculated 
in  every  neighborhood  spread  the  infection  likewise  more 
speedily  among  those  who  did  not  choose  Inoculation ;  so  that  in 
a  few  months  the  distemper  went  thro'  the  town,  and  was  extinct; 
and  the  trade  of  the  town  suffered  only  a  short  interruption, 
compar'd  with  what  had  been  usual  in  former  times,  the  country 
people  during  the  seasons  of  that  sickness  fearing  all  intercourse 
with  the  town. 

"As  the  practice  of  Inoculation  always  divided  people  into 
parties,  some  contending  warmly  for  it,  and  others  as  strongly 
against  it;  the  latter  asserting  that  the  advantages  pretended 
were  imaginary,  and  that  the  Surgeons,  from  views  of  interest, 
concel'd  or  diminished  the  true  number  of  deaths  occasion'd  by 
Inoculation,  and  magnify'd  the  number  of  those  who  died  of  the 
Small-pox  in  the  common  way :  It  was  resolved  by  the  Magistrate 
of  the  town,  to  cause  a  strict  and  impartial  enquiry  to  be  made 
by  the  Constables  of  each  ward,  who  were  to  give  in  their  returns 
upon  oath;  and  that  the  enquiry  might  be  more  strictly  and 
impartially,  some  of  the  partisans  for  and  against  the  practice 
were  join'd  as  assistants  to  the  officers,  and  accompany'd  them  in 
their  progress  through  the  wards  from  house  to  house.  Their 
several  returns  being  received,  and  summed  up  together,  the 
number  turn'd  out  as  follows: 

Had    the    Small-  Received  the  Dis- 

pox  in  the  Com-  Of  these  Died.        temper  by  Inocu-   Of  these  Died, 
mon  way.  lation. 

Whites.  Blacks.      Whites.  Blacks.      Whites.  Blacks.      Whites.  Blacks. 
5,059         485  452         62  1,974         139  23  7 

"It  appeared  by  this  account  that  the  deaths  of  persons 
inoculated,  were  more  in  proportion  at  this  time  than  had  been 
formerly  observed,  being  something  more  than  one  in  a  hundred. 
The  favourers  of  Inoculation  however  would  not  allow  that  this 
was  owing  to  any  error  in  the  former  accounts,  but  rather  to 
the  Inoculating  at  this  time  many  unfit  subjects,  partly  through 
the  impatience  of  people  who  would  not  wait  the  necessary 
preparation,  lest  they  should  take  it  in  the  common  way;  and 
partly  from  the  importunity  of  parents  prevailing  with  the 
Surgeons  against  their  judgment  and  advice  to  inoculate  weak 
children,  labouring  under  other  disorders;  because  the  parents 
could  not  immediately  remove  them  out  of  the  way  of  the 


74  FRANKLIN'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  MEDICINE. 

distemper,  and  thought  they  would  at  least  stand  a  better  chance 
by  being  inoculated  than  in  taking  the  infection  as  they  would 
probably  do,  in  the  common  way. 

"The  Surgeons  and  Physicians  were  also  suddenly  oppressed 
with  the  great  hurry  of  business,  which  so  hasty  and  general  an 
Inoculation  and  spreading  of  the  distemper  in  the  common  way 
must  occasion,  and  probably  could  not  so  particularly  attend 
to  the  circumstances  of  the  patients  offered  for  Inoculation. 

"Inoculation  was  first  practised  by  Dr.  Boylston  in  1720.  It 
was  not  used  before  in  any  part  of  America,  and  not  in  Phila 
delphia  till  1730.  Some  years  since,  an  enquiry  was  made  in 
Philadelphia  of  the  several  Surgeons  and  Physicians  who  had 
practis'd  Inoculation,  what  numbers  had  been  by  each  inoculated, 
and  what  was  the  success.  The  result  of  this  enquiry  was  that 
upwards  of  800  (I  forget  the  exact  number)  had  been  inoculated 
at  different  times,  and  that  only  four  of  them  had  died.  If  this 
account  was  true,  as  I  believe  it  was,  the  reason  of  greater 
success  then  than  had  been  found  in  Boston,  where  the  general 
loss  by  Inoculation  used  to  be  estimated  at  about  one  in  100, 
may  probably  be  from  this  circumstance;  that  in  Boston  they 
always  keep  the  distemper  out  as  long  as  they  can,  so  that 
when  it  comes,  it  finds  a  greater  number  of  adult  subjects  than 
in  Philadelphia,  where  since  1730  it  has  gone  thro'  the  town 
once  in  four  or  five  years,  so  that  the  greatest  number  of  subjects 
for  Inoculation  must  be  under  that  age. 

"Notwithstanding  the  now  uncontroverted  success  of  Inocu 
lation  it  does  not  seem  to  make  that  progress  among  the  common 
people  in  America,  which  at  first  was  expected.  Scruples  of 
conscience  weigh  with  many  concerning  the  lawfulness  of  the 
practice:  And  if  one  parent  or  near  relation  is  against  it,  the 
other  does  not  chuse  to  inoculate  a  child  without  free  consent  of 
all  parties,  lest  in  case  of  a  disastrous  event,  perpetual  blame 
should  follow. 

"These  scruples  a  sensible  Clergy  may  in  time  remove.  The 
expense  of  having  the  operation  performed  by  a  Surgeon  weighs 
with  others,  for  that  has  been  pretty  high  in  some  parts  of 
America;  and  when  a  common  tradesman  or  artificer  has  a 
number  in  his  family  to  have  the  distemper,  it  amounts  to  more 
money  than  he  can  well  spare.  Many  of  these,  rather  than  own 
the  true  motive  for  declining  Inoculation,  join  with  the  scrupulous 
in  the  cry  against  it,  and  influence  others.  A  small  pamphlet 


INOCULATION    AGAINST    SMALL-POX.  75 

wrote  in  plain  language  by  some  skillful  Physician,  and  published 
directing  what  preparations  of  the  body  should  be  used  before 
the  Inoculation  of  children,  what  precautions  to  avoid  giving  the 
infection  at  the  same  time  in  the  common  way,  and  how  the 
operation  is  to  be  performed,  the  incisions  dressed,  the  patient 
treated,  and  on  the  appearance  of  what  symptoms  a  Physician 
is  to  be  called,  etc.,  might  by  encouraging  parents  to  inoculate 
their  own  children,  be  a  means  of  removing  that  objection  of  the 
expense,  render  the  practice  much  more  general,  and  thereby 
save  the  lives  of  thousands. 

"The  Doctor,  after  perusing  and  considering  the  above, 
humanely  took  the  trouble  (tho'  his  extensive  practice  affords 
him  scarce  any  time  to  spare)  of  writing  the  following  Plain 
Introductions,  and  generously  at  his  own  private  expense,  printed 
a  very  large  impression  of  them,  which  was  put  into  my  hands  to 
be  distributed  gratis  in  America.  Not  aiming  at  the  prize  which 
however  is  justly  due  to  such  disinterested  benevolence,  he  has 
omitted  his  name;  but  as  I  thought  the  advice  of  a  nameless 
Physician  might  possibly  on  that  account  be  less  regarded  I  have, 
without  his  knowledge,  here  divulged  it.  And  I  have  prefixed 
to  his  small  but  valuable  work  these  pages,  containing  the  facts 
that  have  given  rise  to  it,  because  facts  generally  have,  as  indeed 
they  ought  to  have,  great  weight  in  persuading  to  the  practice 
they  favour.  To  these  I  may  also  add  an  account  I  have  been 
favoured  with  by  Dr.  Archer,  physician  to  the  Small-pox  Hos 
pital  here,  vis.: 

Persons. 
There  have  been  inoculated  in  this  Hospital  since  its  first 

institution  to  this  day,  December  31,  1758 1,601 

Of  which  number  died    6 

Patients  who  had  the  Small-pox  in  the  common  way  in 

this  Hospital,  to  the  same  day 3*856 

Of  which  number  have  died 1,002 

"By  this  account  it  appears,  that  in  the  way  of  inoculation 
there  has  but  one  patient  died  in  267,  whereas  in  the  common 
way  there  has  died  more  than  one  in  four.  The  mortality  indeed 
in  the  latter  case  appears  to  have  been  greater  than  usual  (one 
in  seven,  when  the  distemper  is  not  very  favourable,  being 
reckoned  the  common  loss  in  towns  by  the  Small-pox,  all  ages 
and  ranks  taken  together)  but  these  patients  were  mostly  adults, 
and  were  received,  it  is  said,  into  the  Hospital  after  great 


76  FRANKLIN'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  MEDICINE. 

irregularities  had  been  committed.  By  the  Boston  account  it 
appears  that,  Whites  and  Blacks  taken  together,  but  about  one 
in  eleven  died  in  the  common  way,  and  the  distemper  then  was 
therefore  reckoned  uncommonly  favourable.  I  have  also 
obtained  from  the  Foundling  Hospital  (where  all  the  children 
admitted,  that  had  not  had  the  Small-pox,  are  inoculated  at  the 
age  five  years)  an  account  to  this  time  of  the  success  of  that 
practice  there,  which  stands  thus,  viz.: 

Inoculated,  boys  162,  girls  176,  in  all .   338 

Of  these  died  in  Inoculation,  only 2 

"And  the  death  of  one  of  these  two  was  occasioned  by  a 
worm  fever.  On  the  whole,  if  the  chance  was  only  as  two  to 
one  in  favour  of  the  practice  among  children,  would  it  not 
be  sufficient  to  induce  a  tender  parent  to  lay  hold  of  the 
advantages  ? 

"But  when  it  is  so  much  greater,  as  it  appears  to  be  by  these 
accounts  (in  some  even  as  thirty  to  one)  surely  parents  will  no 
longer  refuse  to  accept  and  thankfully  use  a  discovery  God  in  his 
mercy  has  been  pleased  to  bless  mankind  with:  whereby  some 
check  may  now  be  put  to  the  ravages  that  cruel  disease  has 
been  accustomed  to  make,  and  the  human  species  be  again  suf 
fered  to  increase  as  it  did  before  Small-pox  made  its  appearance. 
This  increase  has  indeed  been  more  obstructed  by  that  distemper 
than  is  usually  imagined:  For  the  loss  of  one  in  ten  thereby 
is  not  merely  the  loss  of  so  many  persons,  but  the  accumulated 
loss  of  all  the  children's  children  the  deceased  might  have  had, 
multiplied  by  successive  generations. 

"B.  FRANKLIN,  of  Philadelphia." 

LEAD    POISONING. 

Franklin's  observations  on  colica  Pictonum  or  "dry  bellyache" 
are  of  the  highest  scientific  value.  John  Hunter  in  his  paper 
on  the  same  subject  quotes  Franklin,  giving  him  due  credit  for 
his  observations. 

In  a  letter  to  Cadwallader  Evans,  dated  London,  February  20, 
1768,  Franklin  in  a  most  suggestive  way  discusses  the  subject 
of  lead  poisoning  in  these  words : 

"In  yours  of  November  2Oth,  you  mention  the  lead  in  the 
worms  of  stills  as  a  probable  cause  of  the  dry  belly-ache  among 
punch-drinkers  in  our  West  Indies.  I  had  before  acquainted  Dr. 
Baker  with  a  fact  of  that  kind,  the  general  mischief  done  by  the 


LEAD   POISONING.  77 

use  of  leaden  worms,  when  rum-distilling  was  first  practised  in 
New  England,  which  occasioned  a  severe  law  there  against  them ; 
and  he  has  mentioned  it  in  the  second  part  of  his  piece  not  yet 
published.  I  have  long  been  of  opinion,  that  that  distemper  pro 
ceeds  always  from  a  metallic  cause  only ;  observing  that  it  affects, 
among  tradesmen,  those  that  use  lead,  however  different  their 
trades, — as  glaziers,  letter-founders,  plumbers,  potters,  whitelead 
makers,  and  painters;  (from  the  latter,  it  has  been  conjectured, 
it  took  its  name  colica  Pictonum,  by  the  mistake  of  a  letter,  and 
not  from  its  being  the  disease  of  Poictou;)  and,  although  the 
worms  of  stills  ought  to  be  of  pure  tin,  they  are  often  made  of 
pewter,  which  has  a  great  mixture  in  it  of  lead." 

On  another  occasion  Franklin  made  the  following  observa 
tions  regarding  his  experience  when  working  as  a  printer  in 
London : 

"I  there  found  a  practice  I  had  never  seen  before,  of  drying 
a  case  of  types  (which  are  wet  in  distribution)  by  placing  it 
sloping  before  the  fire.  I  found  this  had  the  additional  advan 
tage,  when  the  types  were  not  only  dried  but  heated,  of  being 
comfortable  to  the  hands  working  over  them  in  cold  weather. 
I  therefore  sometimes  heated  my  case  when  the  types  did  not 
want  drying.  But  an  old  workman,  observing  it,  advised  me 
not  to  do  so,  telling  me  I  might  lose  the  use  of  my  hands  by  it, 
as  two  of  our  companions  had  nearly  done,  one  of  whom  that 
used  to  earn  his  guinea  a  week,  could  not  then  make  more  than 
ten  shillings,  and  the  other,  who  had  the  dangles,  but  seven  and 
sixpence.  This,  with  a  kind  of  obscure  pain,  that  I  had  some 
times  felt,  as  it  were  in  the  bones  of  my  hands  when  working 
over  the  types  made  very  hot.  induced  me  to  omit  the  practice. 
...  I  have  been  told  of  a  case  in  Europe,  I  forget  the  place, 
where  a  whole  family  was  afflicted  with  what  we  call  the  dry 
belly-ache,  or  colica  Pictonum,  by  drinking  rain  water.  It  was 
at  a  country-seat,  which,  being  situated  too  high  to  have  the 
advantage  of  a  well,  was  supplied  with  water  from  a  tank,  which 
received  the  water  from  the  leaded  roofs.  This  had  been  drunk 
several  years  without  mischief;  but  some  young  trees  planted 
near  the  house  growing  up  above  the  roof,  and  shedding  their 
leaves  upon  it,  it  was  supposed  that  an  acid  in  those  leaves  had 
corroded  the  lead  they  covered,  and  furnished  the  water  of  that 
year  with  its  baneful  particles  and  qualities." 

When  Franklin  and  Sir  John  Pringle  were  in  Paris  together, 


78  FRANKLIN'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  MEDICINE. 

in  1767,  the  latter  visited  La  Charite,  a  hospital  noted  for  its 
successful  treatment  of  lead  poisoning,  and  brought  away  a 
pamphlet  containing  a  list  of  the  names  of  persons,  with  their 
professions  or  trades,  who  had  been  cured  there.  Franklin 
examined  the  list,  and  found  that  all  the  patients  were  of  trades 
that,  some  way  or  other,  use  or  work  in  lead. 

INVESTIGATION  OF  MESMERISM. 

In  1784,  the  king  of  France  appointed  Franklin  a  member 
of  a  Commission  charged  with  the  duty  of  investigating  mes 
merism  or  animal  magnetism.  This  Commission  consisted  of 
four  physicians — Borie,  Sallin,  D'Arcet,  and  Guillotin;  and  five 
members  of  the  Royal  Academy,  Franklin,  Le  Roy,  Bailly, 
Bebory,  and  Lavoisier. 

Mesmer  had  been  driven  in  disgrace  from  Germany  and 
settled  in  Paris  in  1778.  He  had  at  the  time  of  the  appointment 
of  this  Commission  attained  an  immense  fame  and  become  the 
rage  in  the  world  of  science  and  fashion  of  Paris.  His  income 
was  enormous,  and  he  lived  in  princely  style.  His  influence  had 
become  so  great  that  it  is  said  the  government  at  one  time  offered 
him  a  pension  of  20,000  francs  a  year  for  his  secret. 

Mesmer  himself  was  too  clever  to  submit  to  the  investigation 
of  the  Commission;  but  one  of  his  pupils,  Deslon,  who  was 
himself  said  to  have  cleared  2,000,000  francs,  was  led  to  submit 
to  the  inquiries  of  the  Commission. 

The  Commission  investigated  the  subject  through  a  period  of 
five  months,  holding  many  meetings  and  making  many  experi 
ments.  Naturally  they  set  out  to  ascertain  whether  the  mes 
meric  phenomenon  were  not  due  to  the  operation  of  the  imagina 
tion.  One  class  of  patients  was  led  to  believe  that  certain  opera 
tions  had  been  performed  when  they  had  not  been;  and  in 
another  class  of  patients,  the  operation  was  performed  and  the 
fact  concealed  from  the  subjects.  To  illustrate,  the  following 
experiments  were  performed:  "M.  Deslon  brought  with  him  a 
boy  of  about  twelve  years  of  age ;  an  apricot  tree  was  fixed  upon 
in  the  orchard  of  Dr.  Franklin's  garden,  considerably  distant 
.from  any  other  tree,  and  calculated  for  the  preservation  of  the 
magnetic  power  which  might  be  impressed  upon  it.  M.  Deslon 
was  led  thither  alone  to  perform  the  operation,  the  boy  in  the 
meantime  remaining  in  the  house,  and  another  person  along  with 
him.  We  could  have  wished  that  M.  Deslon  had  not  been  present 
at  the  subsequent  part  of  the  experiment,  but  he  declared  that 


INVESTIGATION    OF    MESMERISM.  79 

he  could  not  answer  for  its  success,  if  he  did  not  direct  his  cane 
and  his  contenance  toward  the  tree,  in  order  to  augment  the 
action  of  the  magnetism.  It  was  therefore  resolved,  that  M. 
Deslon  should  be  placed  at  the  greatest  possible  distance,  and 
that  some  of  the  commissioners  should  stand  between  him  and 
the  boy,  in  order  to  ascertain  the  impracticability  of  any  signals 
being  made  by  M.  Deslon,  or  any  intelligence  being  maintained 
between  them.  These  precautions  in  an  experiment,  the  essence 
of  which  must  be  authenticity,  are  indispensable,  without  giving 
the  person  with  respect  to  whom  they  are  employed  a  right  to 
think  himself  offended.  The  boy  was  then  brought  into  the 
orchard,  his  eyes  covered  with  a  bandage,  presented  successively 
to  four  trees  upon  which  the  operation  had  not  been  performed, 
and  caused  to  embrace  each  of  them  for  the  space  of  two  minutes, 
the  mode  of  communication  which  had  been  prescribed  by  M. 
Deslon  himself.  M.  Deslon,  present,  and  at  a  considerable  dis 
tance,  directed  his  cane  toward  the  tree  which  had  been  the 
object  of  his  operations.  At  the  first  tree,  the  boy  being  inter 
rogated  at  the  end  of  a  minute,  declared  that  he  perspired  in 
large  drops ;  he  coughed,  expectorated,  and  complained  of  a  slight 
pain  in  his  head.  The  distance  of  the  tree  which  had  been  mag 
netized  was  about  twenty-seven  feet.  At  the  second  tree  he  felt 
the  sensations  of  stupefaction  and  pain  in  his  head;  the  distance 
was  thirty-six  feet.  At  the  third  tree  the  stupefaction  and  head 
ache  increased  considerably;  he  said  that  he  was  approaching 
to  the  tree  which  had  been  magnetized;  the  distance  was  then 
about  thirty-eight  feet.  In  fine,  at  the  fourth  tree  which  had 
not  been  rendered  the  object  of  the  operation,  and  at  the  dis 
tance  of  about  twenty-four  feet  from  the  tree  which  had,  the 
boy  fell  into  a  crisis;  he  fainted  away,  his  limbs  stiffened,  and 
he  was  carried  to  a  neighboring  grass-plot,  where  M.  Deslon 
hastened  to  his  assistance  and  recovered  him." 

The  second  experiment  is  likewise  quoted:  "One  day  the 
Commission  were  all  together  at  Passy,  at  the  home  of  Dr. 
Franklin,  and  M.  Deslon  was  with  them,  they  having  previously 
entreated  the  latter  to  bring  some  of  his  patients  with  him,  select 
ing  those  of  the  lower  class,  who  were  more  susceptible  to  the 
magnetism.  M.  Deslon  brought  two  women;  and  while  he  was 
employed  in  performing  the  operation  upon  Dr.  Franklin  and 
several  persons  in  another  apartment,  the  two  women  were  sep 
arated,  and  placed  in  different  rooms.  One  of  them,  Dame 


8o  FRANKLIN'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  MEDICINE. 

P ,  had  films  over  her  eyes;  but  as  she  could  always  see  a 

little,  the  bandage  already  described  was  employed.  She  was 
persuaded  that  M.  Deslon  had  been  brought  into  the  room  to 
perform  the  magnetical  operation;  silence  was  recommended ; 
three  commissioners  were  present,  one  to  interrogate,  another  to 
take  minutes  of  the  transaction,  and  the  third  to  personate  M. 
Deslon ;  he  was  desired  to  begin  the  operation ;  the  three  com 
missioners  in  the  meantime  remained  perfectly  quiet  and  solely 
occupied  in  observing  her  symptoms.  At  the  end  of  three 
minutes  the  patient  began  to  feel  a  nervous  shuddering;  she  had 
then  successively  a  pain  in  the  back  of  her  head,  in  her  arms, 
a  creeping  in  her  hands  (that  was  her  expression)  ;  she  grew 
stiff,  struck  her  hands  violently  together,  rose  from  her  seat, 
stamped  with  her  feet.  The  crisis  had  all  the  regular  symptoms. 
The  other  commissioners  who  were  in  the  adjoining  room  with 
the  door  shut,  heard  the  stamping  of  the  feet  and  the  clapping 
of  the  hands,  and  without  seeing  anything  were  witnesses  to  this 
noisy  experiment.  The  two  commissioners  we  have  mentioned 

were  with  the  other  patient,  Mademoiselle  B ,  who  was 

subject  to  nervous  distempers.  No  bandage  was  employed  upon 
her,  but  her  eyes  were  at  liberty;  she  was  seated  with  her  face 
toward  a  door  which  was  shut,  and  persuaded  that  M.  Deslon 
was  on  the  other  side,  employed  in  performing  upon  her  the 
magnetical  operation.  This  had  scarcely  taken  place  a  minute 
before  she  began  to  feel  the  symptoms  of  shuddering ;  in  another 
minute  she  had  a  chattering  of  the  teeth  and  a  universal  heat ; 
in  fine,  in  the  third  minute  she  fell  into  a  regular  crisis.  Her 
respiration  was  quick,  she  stretched  out  both  her  arms  behind 
her  back,  twisting  them  extremely,  and  bending  her  body  for 
ward  ;  her  whole  body  trembled ;  the  chattering  of  her  teeth 
became  so  loud  that  it  might  be  heard  in  the  open  air;  she 
bit  her  hands  and  that  with  so  much  force  that  the  marks  of  the 
teeth  remained  perfectly  visible." 

The  commissioners  asked  Deslon  to  reply  to  these  inquiries : 

ist.  To  give  proof  of  the  existence  of  animal  magnetism. 

2d.  To  reveal  to  them  his  ideas  about  this  discovery. 

3d.  To  prove  to  them  its  usefulness  in  healing  the  sick. 

The  Commission,  after  observing  Deslon's  method  of  pro 
cedure  without  being  convinced,  resolved  to  make  experiments 
itself.  They  tried  to  magnetize  each  other  several  times  without 
result.  They  took  seven  of  Deslon's  patients  to  Franklin's  home 


INVESTIGATION    OF    MESMERISM.  8l 

at  Passy,  where  quiet  a  series  of  experiments  was  made,  two  of 
which  have  just  been  quoted.  The  report  of  the  Commission  was 
quite  lengthy  and  is  said  to  have  been  drawn  up  by  Franklin; 
but  its  conclusions  were  brief  and  very  much  to  the  point.  They 
follow : 

"The  commissioners  having  recognized  that  the  animal  mag 
netic  fluid  can  not  be  perceived  by  any  of  our  senses ;  that  it  had 
no  influence  either  upon  themselves,  or  upon  the  sick  whom  they 
subjected  it  to;  feeling  assured  that  the  pressing  and  touching 
bring  about  in  the  animal  economy  changes  which  are  rarely 
favorable,  and  in  the  imagination  shocks  which  are  always 
grievous;  having  in  short,  demonstrated  by  incisive  experiments, 
that  imagination  without  magnetism  produces  convulsions,  and 
that  magnetism  without  imagination  produces  nothing,  their 
unanimous  conclusion  was  that  there  is  no  proof  of  the  existence 
of  fluid  animal  magnetism ;  that  this  fluid,  since  it  does  not  exist, 
is  of  no  use ;  that  the  violent  effects  observed  at  the  public  treat 
ment  are  due  to  the  manipulation,  to  an  aroused  imagination,  and 
to  that  quality  of  involuntary  imitation,  which  leads  us  in  spite 
of  ourselves  to  repeat  whatever  strikes  our  senses.  And  at  the 
same  time  they  believe  they  are  obliged  to  add  as  an  important 
observation,  that  the  manipulations  and  the  repeated  action  of 
the  imagination,  in  order  to  produce  the  crisis,  can  be  injurious 
on  account  of  this  quality  of  imitation,  of  which  nature  seems 
to  us  to  have  made  law;  and  that,  consequently  every  public 
treatment  in  which  magnetism  is  used  can  have  in  the  long  run 
only  pernicious  results." 

Tourtourat,  a  pupil  of  Gilles  de  la  Tourette,  says  that  this 
report  was  pronounced,  by  his  master,  "a  scientific  work  of  the 
first  order,  worthy  of  being  consulted  even  to-day  by  those  inter 
ested  in  hypnotism  and  in  diseases  of  the  nervous  system." 

The  effect  of  this  report  was  to  drive  Mesmer  from  Paris 
eventually.  Some  of  his  followers,  however,  continued  his 
methods  in  Paris  for  a  time.  But  the  immense  prestige  gained 
by  the  arch-charlatan  was  gone. 

Writing  to  William  Temple  in  a  letter  dated  Passy, 
August  25,  1784,  regarding  the  report  of  the  Commission  ap 
pointed  to  investigate  mesmerism,  Franklin  says :  "It  makes  a 
great  deal  of  talk.  Everybody  agrees  that  it  is  well  written ;  but 
many  wonder  at  the  force  of  imagination  describ'd  in  it,  as 
occasioning  convulsions,  &c.,  and  some  fear  that  consequences 


82  FRANKLIN'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  MEDICINE. 

may  be  drawn  from  it  by  infidels  to  weaken  our  faith  in  some 
of  the  miracles  of  the  New  Testament.  I  send  you  two  copies. 
You  would  do  well  to  give  one  to  the  French  Ambassador,  if  he 
has  not  had  it.  Some  think  it  will  put  an  end  to  mesmerism. 
But  there  is  a  wonderful  deal  of  credulity  in  the  world,  and 
deceptions  as  absurd,  have  supported  themselves  for  ages." 

In  a  letter  dated  Passy,  September  8,  1784,  Franklin  wrote  to 
William  Temple  Franklin  in  a  postscript  of  a  letter  as  follows : 

"Mesmer  has  complained  to  the  Parliament  of  our  Report,  and 
requested  that  they  appoint  Commissaries,  to  whom  he  might 
submit  the  Examination  of — not  his  Theory  and  Practice,  but — 
un  Plan  qui  renfermera  les  seuls  moyens  possibles  de  constater 
infailliblement  I'  existence  &  I'  ittilite  de  sa  decouverte.  The 
Petition  was  printed.  Many  thought  the  Parliament  would  do 
nothing  in  it.  But  they  have  laid  hold  of  it  to  clinch  Mesmer, 
and  oblige  him  to  expose  all  directly.  So  that  it  must  soon  be 
seen  whether  there  is  any  difference  between  his  Art  &  Deslon's. 
Voici  leur." 

On  April  29,  1785,  he  again  speaks  of  Mesmer  in  a  letter  to 
Dr.  Ingenhousz:  "Mesmer  continues  here  and  has  still  some 
Adherents  and  some  Practice.  It  is  surprising  how  much  Credu 
lity  still  subsists  in  the  World.  I  suppose  all  the  Physicians  in 
France  put  together  have  not  made  so  much  Money  during  the 
Time  he  has  been  here,  as  he  has  done.  And  we  have  now  a 
fresh  Folly.  A  Magnetiser  pretends  that  he  can  establish 
what  is  called  a  Rapport  between  any  Person  and  a  Somnambule, 
by  a  simple  strong  Volition  only,  without  Speaking  or  making  any 
Signs;  and  many  People  daily  flock  to  see  this  strange 
Operation!" 

A   FEW   MISCELLANEOUS   SCIENTIFIC   OBSERVATIONS   PERTAINING  TO 

MEDICINE. 

In  one  of  his  letters  to  Dr.  Dubourg  he  speaks  of  the  effect 
upon  the  flesh  of  animals  which  are  killed  by  electricity,  stating 
that  he  has  been  led  to  believe  that  the  flesh  of  such  animals 
putrefies  very  rapidly.  The  practical  bent  of  Franklin's  mind 
comes  into  operation,  for  he  observes :  "It  is  not  unreasonable  to 
presume,  that,  between  the  period  of  their  death  and  that  of  their 
putrefaction,  a  time  intervened  in  which  the  flesh  might  be  only 
tender,  and  not  sufficiently  so  to  be  served  at  table.  Add  to  this, 
that  persons,  who  have  eaten  of  fowls  killed  by  our  feeble 


MISCELLANEOUS   OBSERVATIONS.  83 

imitation  of  lightning  (electricity)  and  dressed  immediately,  have 
asserted,  that  the  flesh  was  remarkably  tender." 

In  a  letter  to  the  Due  de  la  Rochefoucauld,  under  date  of 
Philadelphia,  October  22,  1728,  Franklin  writes:  "I  thank  you 
much  for  the  Dissertation  sur  la  Nyctalopie.  It  was  quite  a 
Novelty  to  me,  having  never  before  heard  of  such  a  Malady. 
One  of  our  most  ancient  Physicians  assures  me ;  that  tho'  he  had 
some  knowledge  of  the  Distemper  from  his  Reading,  he  never 
knew  an  Instance  of  it  in  any  Part  of  North  America.  Indeed 
we  have  no  Chalk  in  this  country,  nor  any  Soil  so  white  as  to 
dazzle  the  Eyes  when  the  Sun's  Light  is  reflected  from  it.  The 
Dissertation  mentions  that  there  are  terres  cretacees,  &c.  Are 
those  terres  white? 

"While  I  resided  in  England,  I  read  in  a  Newspaper,  that  in  a 
Country  Village  at  the  Funeral  of  a  Woman  whose  Husband  had 
died  of  the  Small-pox  30  years  before,  and  whose  Grave  was 
dug  so  as  to  place  her  by  his  Side,  the  Neighbors  at  ending  the 
Funeral  were  offended  with  the  smell  arising  out  of  the  Grave, 
occasioned  by  a  Breach  in  the  Husband's  old  Coffin,  and  25 
of  them  were  in  a  few  days  after  taken  ill  with  that  Distemper, 
which  was  not  in  that  Village  or  its  Neighborhood,  nor  had  been 
for  the  number  of  (years  above  mentioned). 

"About  the  Year  1763  or  1764,  several  Physicians  of  London, 
who  had  been  present  from  Curiosity  at  the  Dissection  of  an 
Egyptian  Mummy,  were  soon  after  taken  ill  of  a  malignant  fever, 
of  which  they  died.  Opinions  were  divided  on  this  occasion.  It 
was  thought  by  some  that  the  Fever  was  caused  by  Infection 
from  the  Mummy;  in  which  Case  the  Disease  it  died  of  must 
have  been  embalmed  as  well  as  the  Body.  Others  who  considered 
the  Length  of  Time;  at  least  2,000  Years,  since  that  Body  died, 
and  also  that  the  Embalming  must  be  rather  supposed  to  destroy 
the  Power  of  Infection,  imagined  the  Illness  of  these  Gentlemen 
must  have  had  another  Original. 

"About  the  year  1773,  the  Captain  of  a  Ship,  which  had  been 
at  the  island  of  Tenneriffe,  brought  from  thence  the  dried  Body 
of  one  of  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  that  Island,  which  must  have 
been  at  least  300  years  old,  that  custom  of  drying  the  Dead  there 
having  been  so  long  discontinued.  Two  members  of  the  Royal 
Society  went  to  see  that  body.  They  were  half  an  hour  in  a  close 
room  with  it,  examining  it  very  particularly.  The  next  day  they 
were  both  infected  with  a  singularly  violent  cold,  attended  with 

6A 


84  FRANKLIN'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  MEDICINE. 

uncommon  circumstances,  which  continued  a  long  time.  On 
comparing  together  the  Particulars  of  their  Disorder,  they  agreed 
in  suspecting  that  possibly  some  effluvia  from  the  Body  might 
have  been  the  occasion  of  that  Disorder  in  them  both;  perhaps 
they  were  mistaken.  But  as  we  do  not  yet  know  with  Certainty 
how  long  the  Power  of  Infection  may  in  some  Bodies  be 
retained,  it  seems  well  in  such  Cases  to  be  cautious  till  farther 
Light  shall  be  obtained." 

In  his  private  diary  kept  in  France  under  date,  July  3,  1781, 
Franklin  makes  this  interesting  note:  "July  3d. — Mr.  Smeath- 
man  comes  and  brings  two  English  or  Scotch  Gentlemen;  one  a 
Chevalier  of  some  Order,  the  other  a  Physician  who  had  lived 
long  in  Russia.  Much  Conversation.  Putrid  Fevers  common 
in  Russia,  and  in  Winter  much  more  than  in  Summer ;  therefore 
supposed  to  be  owing  to  their  hot  Rooms.  In  a  gentleman's 
House  there  are  sometimes  one  hundred  domestics;  these  have 
not  beds,  but  sleep  twenty  or  thirty  in  a  close  room  warmed  by  a 
stove,  lying  on  the  floor  and  on  benches.  The  stoves  are  heated 
by  wood.  As  soon  as  it  is  burnt  to  coals,  the  chimney  is  stopped 
to  prevent  the  escape  of  hot  and  entry  of  cold  air.  So  they 
breathe  the  same  air  over  and  over  again  all  night.  These  Fevers 
he  cured  by  wrapping  the  patient  in  linen  wet  with  vinegar,  and 
making  them  breathe  the  vapor  of  vinegar  thrown  on  hot  bricks. 
The  Russians  have  the  art  of  distilling  spirits  from  milk.  To 
prepare  it  for  distillation  it  must  when  beginning  to  sour,  be 
kept  in  continual  agitation  for  twelve  hours;  it  then  becomes  a 
uniform  vinous  liquor,  the  cream,  curd,  and  aqueous  part  or 
whey,  all  intimately  mixed.  Excellent  in  this  state  for  restoring 
emaciated  bodies.  This  operation  on  milk  was  discovered  long 
since  by  the  Tartars,  who  in  their  rambling  life  carry  milk  in 
leather  bags  on  their  horses,  and  the  motion  produced  the  effect. 
It  may  be  tried  with  us  by  attaching  a  large  bag  of  milk  to  some 
part  of  one  of  our  mills." 

In  1762  Franklin  returned  to  America  and  took  his  place  in 
the  Colonial  Assembly. 

He  published  some  experiments  which  he  made  in  Phila 
delphia,  in  1749,  on  the  effect  of  electricity  on  living  bodies.  He 
states  that  it  is  known  that  electricity  makes  people  blind.  He 
tells  of  a  pigeon  which  had  fallen  over  as  a  result  of  an  electric 
shock  and  which  recovered,  but  afterwards  it  would  eat  nothing 
and  was  so  enfeebled  that  it  soon  died.  He  speaks  of  a  strong 


POPULAR    MEDICINE.  85 

chicken  as  the  largest  animal  which  he  had  killed  by  an  electric 
shock. 

POPULAR    MEDICINE. 

It  is  generally  acknowledged  that  it  is  a  difficult  matter  for 
anyone,  physician  or  layman,  to  write  an  essay  on  hygienic  or 
medical  topics  suitable  for  the  needs  of  the  laity.  I  have  there 
fore  thought  it  well  to  insert  at  this  place  two  pieces  by  Franklin 
which  may  be  regarded  as  examples  of  popular  medical  writing, 
and  which  I  think  all  will  agree  are  well  done. 

The  following  letter,  written  by  Franklin  to  the  daughter  of 
his  old  friend,  "The  good  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph,"  is  a  good  illus 
tration  of  Franklin's  inimitable  style ;  and  it  contains  the  soundest 
sort  of  advice  on  hygienic  matters  put  in  such  an  attractive  form 
that  it  might  well  serve  as  a  model  for  those,  whether  physicians 
or  laymen,  who  essay  to  write  on  health  matters  for  the  laity. 
"The  Art  of  Procuring  Pleasant  Dreams. 

"Inscribed   to   Miss    (Shipley),    Being  Written   at  Her   Request. 

"As  a  great  part  of  our  life  is  spent  in  sleep,  during  which  we  have 
sometimes  pleasant  and  sometimes  painful  dreams,  it  becomes  of  some 
consequence  to  obtain  the  one  kind  and  avoid  the  other;  for  whether 
real  or  imaginary,  pain  is  pain  and  pleasure  is  pleasure.  If  we  can  sleep 
without  dreaming,  it  is  well  that  painful  dreams  are  avoided.  If  while 
we  sleep  we  can  have  any  pleasant  dream,  it  is  as  the  French  say,  autant 
de  gagne,  so  much  added  to  the  pleasure  of  life. 

"To  this  end  it  is,  in  the  first  place,  necessary  to  be  careful  in  pre 
serving  health,  by  due  exercise,  and  great  temperance;  for,  in  sickness, 
the  imagination  is  disturbed,  and  disagreeable,  sometimes  terrible,  ideas 
are  apt  to  present  themselves.  Exercise  should  precede  meals,  not  imme 
diately  follow  them;  the  first  promotes,  the  latter,  unless  moderate, 
obstructs  digestion.  If,  after  exercise,  we  feed  sparingly,  the  digestion 
will  be  easy  and  good,  the  body  lightsome,  the  temper  cheerful,  and  all 
the  animal  functions  agreeably  performed.  Sleep,  when  it  follows,  will  be 
natural  and  undisturbed;  while  indolence,  with  full  feeding,  occasions 
nightmares  and  horrors  inexpressible ;  we  fall  from  precipices,  are 
assaulted  by  wild  beasts,  murderers,  and  demons,  and  experience  every 
variety  of  distress.  Observe,  however,  that  the  quantities  of  food  and 
exercise  are  relative  things;  those  who  move  much  may,  and  indeed 
ought,  to  eat  more;  those  who  use  little  exercise  should  eat  little.  In 
general,  mankind,  since  the  improvement  of  cookery,  eats  about  twice 
as  much  as  nature  requires.  Suppers  are  not  bad,  if  we  have  not  dined; 
but  restless  nights  naturally  follow  hearty  suppers  after  full  dinners. 
Indeed,  as  there  is  a  difference  in  constitutions,  some  rest  well  after 
these  meals ;  it  costs  them  only  a  frightful  dream  and  an  apoplexy,  after 
which  they  sleep  till  doomsday.  Nothing  is  more  common  in  the  news 
papers  than  instances  of  people  who,  after  eating  a  hearty  supper,  are 
found  dead  abed  in  the  morning. 


86  FRANKLIN'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  MEDICINE. 

"Another  means  of  preserving  health,  to  be  attended  to,  is  the 
having  a  constant  supply  of  fresh  air  in  your  bed-chamber.  It  has  been 
a  great  mistake,  the  sleeping  in  rooms  exactly  closed  and  in  beds  sur 
rounded  by  curtains.  No  outward  air  that  may  come  in  to  you  is  so 
unwholesome  as  the  unchanged  air,  often  breathed,  of  a  close  chamber. 
As  boiling  water  does  not  grow  hotter  by  longer  boiling  if  the  particles 
that  receive  greater  heat  can  escape,  so  living  bodies  do  not  putrefy 
if  the  particles,  so  fast  as  they  become  putrid,  can  be  thrown  off.  Nature 
expels  them  by  the  pores  of  the  skin  and  the  lungs,  amd  in  a  free  open  air 
they  are  carried  off ;  but  in  a  close  room  we  receive  them  again  and  again, 
though  they  become  more  and  more  corrupt.  A  number  of  persons 
crowded  into  a  small  room  thus  spoil  the  air  in  a  few  minutes,  and  even 
render  it  mortal,  as  in  the  Black  Hole  at  Calcutta.  A  single  person  is 
said  to  spoil  only  a  gallon  of  air  per  minute,  and  therefore  requires  a 
longer  time  to  spoil  a  chamber  full;  but  it  is  done,  however,  in  propor 
tion  and 'many  putrid  disorders  hence  have  their  origin.  It  is  recorded 
of  Methusalem  who,  being  the  longest  liver,  may  be  supposed  to  have 
best  preserved  his  health,  that  he  slept  always  in  the  open  air;  for,  when 
he  had  lived  five  hundred  years,  an  angel  said  to  him :  'Arise,  Methusa 
lem,  and  build  thee  an  house,  for  thou  shalt  live  yet  five  hundred  years 
longer.'  But  Methusalem  answered  and  said,  'If  I  am  to  live  but  five  hun 
dred  years  longer  it  is  not  worth  while  to  build  me  an  house;  I  will 
sleep  in  the  air,  as  I  have  been  used  to  do.'  Physicians,  after  having  for 
ages  contended  that  the  sick  should  not  be  indulged  with  fresh  air, 
have  at  length  discovered  that  it  may  do  them  good.  It  is  therefore  to 
be  hoped  that  they  may  in  time  discover,  likewise,  that  it  is  not  hurtful 
to  those  who  are  in  health,  and  that  we  may  be  then  cured  of  the  aeropho 
bia  that  at  present  distresses  weak  minds  and  makes  them  choose  to  be 
stifled  and  poisoned  rather  than  leave  open  the  window  of  a  bed- 
r.hamber  or  put  down  the  glass  of  a  coach. 

"Confined  air,  when  saturated  with  perspirable  matter,  will  not 
receive  more,  and  that  matter  must  remain  iln  our  bodies  and  occasion 
diseases;  but  it  gives  some  previous  notice  of  its  being  about  to  be 
hurtful  by  producing  certain  uneasiness,  slight  indeed  at  first,  which  as 
with  regard  to  the  lungs  is  a  trifling  sensation  and  to  the  pores  of  the 
skin  a  kind  of  restlessness  which  is  difficult  to  describe,  and  few  that 
feel  it  know  the  cause  of  it.  But  we  may  recollect  that  sometimes  on 
waking  in  the  night  we  have,  if  warmly  covered,  found  it  difficult  to  get 
asleep  again.  We  turn  often  without  finding  repose  in  any  position. 
This  fidgettmess  (to  use  a  vulgar  expression  for  want  of  a  better)  is 
occasioned  wholly  by  an  uneasiness  in  the  skin,  owing  to  the  perspirable 
matter — the  bed-clothes  having  received  their  quantity  and,  being  satu 
rated,  refusing  to  take  any  more.  To  become  sensible  of  this  by  an 
experiment,  let  a  person  keep  his  position  in  the  bed  but  throw  off  the 
bed  clothes  and  suffer  fresh  air  to  approach  the  part  uncovered  of  his 
body;  he  will  then  feel  that  part  suddenly  refreshed,  for  the  air  will 
immediately  relieve  the  skin  by  receiving,  licking  up  and  carrying  off 
the  load  of  perspirable  matter  that  incommoded  it.  For  every  portion 
of  cool  air  that  approaches  the  warm  skin,  in  receiving  therewith  a 
degree  of  heat  that  rarefies  and  renders  it  lighter,  when  it  will  be 


POPULAR    MEDICINE.  87 

pushed  away  with  its  burthen  by  cooler  and  therefore  heavier  fresh  air 
which  for  a  moment  supplies  its  place  and  then,  being  likewise  changed 
and  warmed,  gives  way  to  a  succeeding  quantity.  This  is  the  order  of 
nature,  to  prevent  animals  being  infected  by  their  own  perspiration.  He 
will  now  be  sensible  of  the  difference  between  the  part  exposed  to  the 
air  and  that  which,  remaining  sunk  in  the  bed,  denies  the  air  access: 
for  this  part  now  manifests  its  uneasiness  more  distinctly  by  the  com 
parison,  and  the  seat  of  the  uneasiness  is  more  plainly  perceived  than 
when  the  whole  surface  of  the  body  was  affected  by  it. 

"Here,  then,  is  one  great  and  general  cause  of  unpleasing  dreams. 
For  when  the  body  is  uneasy  the  mind  will  be  disturbed  by  it  and  dis 
agreeable  ideas  of  various  kinds  will  in  sleep  be  the  natural  consequences. 
The  remedies,  preventive  and  curative,  follow: 

"i.  By  eating  moderately  (as  before  advised  for  health's  sake)  less 
perspirable  matter  is  produced  in  a  given  time,  hence  the  bed-clothes 
receive  it  long  before  they  are  saturated,  and  we  may  therefore  sleep 
longer  before  we  are  made  uneasy  by  their  refusing  to  receive  any  more. 

"2.  By  using  thinner  and  more  porous  bed-clothes,  which  will  suffer 
the  perspirable  matter  more  easily  to  pass  through  them,  we  are  less 
incommoded,  such  being  longer  tolerable. 

"3.  When  you  are  awakened  by  this  uneasiness  and  find  you  can  not 
easily  sleep  again,  get  out  of  bed,  beat  up  and  turn  your  pillow,  shake  the 
bed-clothes  well,  with  at  least  twenty  shakes,  then  throw  the  bed  open  and 
leave  it  to  cool ;  in  the  meantime,  continuing  undrest,  walk  about  your 
chamber  till  your  skin  had  time  to  discharge  its  load,  which  it  will 
do  sooner  as  the  air  may  be  dried  and  cooler.  When  you  begin  to  feel 
the  cold  air  unpleasant  then  return  to  your  bed  and  you  will  soon  fall 
asleep,  and  your  sleep  will  be  sweet  and  pleasant.  All  the  scenes  pre 
sented  to  your  fancy  will  be,  too,  of  the  pleasing  kind.  I  am  often  as 
agreeably  entertained  with  them  as  by  the  scenery  of  an  opera.  If  you 
happen  to  be  too  indolent  to  get  out  of  bed  you  may,  instead  of  it,  lift 
up  your  bed-clothes  with  one  arm  and  1  g,  so  as  to  draw  in  a  good  deal 
of  fresh  air,  and  by  letting  them  fall  force  it  out  again.  This,  repeated 
twenty  times,  will  so  clear  them  of  the  perspirable  matter  they  have 
imbibed  as  to  permit  your  sleeping  well  for  sometime  afterward.  But 
this  latter  method  is  not  equal  to  the  former. 

"Those  who  do  not  love  trouble  and  can  afford  to  have  two  beds 
will  find  great  luxury  in  rising,  when  they  wake  in  a  hot  bed,  and  going 
into  a  cool  one.  Such  shifting  of  beds  would  also  be  of  great  service  to 
persons  ill  of  a  fever,  as  it  refreshes  and  frequently  produces  sleep.  A 
very  large  bed,  that  will  admit  a  removal  so  distant  from  the  first  situa 
tion  as  to  be  cool  and  sweet,  may  in  a  degree  answer  the  same  end. 

"One  or  two  observations  more  will  conclude  this  little  piece.  Care 
must  be  taken,  when  you  lie  down,  to  dispose  your  pillow  so  as  to  suit 
your  manner  of  placing  your  head  and  to  be  perfectly  easy;  then  place 
your  limbs  so  as  not  to  bear  inconveniently  hard  upon  one  another,  as, 
for  instance,  the  joints  of  your  ankles;  for,  though  a  bad  position  may 
at  first  give  but  little  pain  and  be  hardly  noticed,  yet  a  continuance  will 


render  it  less  tolerable  and  the  uneasiness  may  come  on  while  you  are 
asleep  and  disturb  your  imagination. 

"These  are  the  rules  of  the  art.  But  though  they  will  generally 
prove  effectual  in  producing  the  end  intended  there  is  a  case  in  which 
the  most  punctual  observance  of  them  will  be  totally  fruitless.  I  need 
not  mention  the  case  to  you,  my  dear  friend,  but  my  account  of  the  art 
would  be  imperfect  without  it.  The  case  is,  when  the  person  who 
desires  to  have  pleasant  dreams  has  not  taken  care  to  preserve,  what  is 
necessary  above  all  things. 

"A  GOOD  CONSCIENCE." 

The  second  piece  is  likewise  written  in  Franklin's  happiest 
style,  with  a  delicious  vein  of  humor  permeating  it. 

"A  Petition  of  the  Left  Hand, 
"To  Those  Who  Have  the  Superintendency  of  Education. 

"I  address  myself  to  all  friends  of  youth  and  conjure  them  to  direct 
their  compassionate  regards  to  my  unhappy  fate,  in  order  to  remove 
the  prejudice  of  which  I  am  the  victim.  There  are  twin  sisters  of  us, 
and  the  two  eyes  of  man  do  not  more  resemble  nor  are  capable  of  being 
upon  better  terms  with  each  other,  than  my  sister  and  myself,  were  it 
not  for  the  partiality  of  our  parents,  who  make  the  most  injurious  dis 
tinctions  between  us.  From  my  infancy  I  have  been  led  to  consider 
my  sister  as  a  being  of  a  more  elevated  rank.  I  was  suffered  to  grow 
up  without  the  least  instruction,  while  nothing  was  spared  in  her  education. 
She  had  masters  to  teach  her  writing,  drawing,  music,  and  other  accom 
plishments,  but  if  by  chance  I  touched  a  pencil,  a  pen,  or  a  needle,  I  was 
bitterly  rebuked,  and  more  than  once  I  have  been  beaten  for  being 
awkward  and  wanting  a  graceful  manner.  It  is  true  my  sister  asso 
ciated  me  with  her  upon  some  occasions,  but  she  always  made  a  point 
of  taking  the  lead,  calling  upon  me  only  from  necessity  or  to  figure  by 
her  side. 

"But  conceive  not,  sirs,  that  my  complaints  are  instigated  merely 
by  vanity.  No;  my  uneasiness  is  occasioned  by  an  object  much  more 
serious.  It  is  the  practice  in  our  family  that  the  whole  business  of 
providing  for  its  subsistence  falls  upon  my  sister  and  myself.  If  any 
indisposition  should  attack  my  sister — and  I  mention  it  in  confidence  upon 
this  occasion  that  she  is  subject  to  the  gout,  the  rheumatism  and  cramp, 
without  making  mention  of  other  accidents — what  would  be  the  fate  of 
our  poor  family?  Must  not  the  regret  of  our  parents  be  excessive  at 
having  placed  so  great  a  difference  between  sisters  who  are  so  perfectly 
equal  ?  Alas !  we  must  perish  from  distress ;  for  it  would  not  be  in  my 
power  even  to  scrawl  a  suppliant  petition  for  relief,  having  been  obliged 
to  employ  the  hand  of  another  in  transcribing  the  request  which  I  have 
now  the  honor  to  prefer  to  you. 

"Condescend,  sirs,  to  make  my  parents  sensible  of  the  injustice  of 
an  exclusive  tenderness  and  of  the  necessity  of  distributing  their  care 
and  affection  among  all  their  children  equally.  I  am,  with  a  profound 
respect,  sirs,  your  obedient  servant, 

"THE  LEFT  HAND." 


REFERENCES.  89 

REFERENCES. 

Bulletins  issued  by  the  New  York  Public  Library  and  by  the 
Congressional  Library  contain  full  lists  of  all  the  writings  of 
and  about  Franklin. 

The  earlier  works  of  Sparks  and  Biglow  have  been  consulted ; 
but  the  material  for  this  essay  has  been  chiefly  drawn  from  the 
sources  indicated  below. 

Gushing  (Henry  K.).  Notes  suggested  by  the  Heberden- 
Franklin  pamphlet,  1759.  Johns  Hopkins  Hospital  Bulletin, 
Sept.,  1904. 

Ford  (Paul  Leicester).     The  Many-sided  Franklin. 

Fisher.    The  True  Benjamin  Franklin. 

Packard  (F.  H.).    History  of  Medicine  in  the  United  States. 

Smyth  (Prof.  A.  H.).    The  Writings  of  Benjamin  Franklin. 

Toutourat  (Charles).  Benjamin  Franklin  et  la  Medecine  a 
la  Fin  du  XVIII  Siecle.  Paris,  1900. 

Parton  (James).     Life  of  Benjamin  Franklin. 

McMaster.    Franklin  as  a  Man  of  Letters. 

Morton  (T.  G.).    History  of  the  Pennsylvania  Hospital,  1895. 

The  splendid  work  of  Prof.  A.  H.  Smyth,  which  has  just 
been  published,  contains  many  letters  of  Franklin  which  are  there 
printed  for  the  first  time;  and  it  is  to  this  work  I  am  especially 
indebted  for  much  material. 

I  am  under  obligations  to  the  executors  of  Prof.  Smyth's 
estate,  C.  M.  Farr,  Jr.,  Esq.,  and  to  the  publishers,  the  Macmillan 
Company,  for  their  kind  permission  to  quote  several  of  Franklin's 
letters  from  this  work,  which  appear  there  for  the  first  time. 


BROOKLYN    EAGLE   FKESS. 


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